


Brother

by sonoflight



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drug Abuse, Gen, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-11-29 08:50:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18220916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonoflight/pseuds/sonoflight
Summary: Diego and Eudora are at the hospital interviewing a victim of an armed robbery, standard procedure, when Diego sees Klaus being rushed past on a stretcher. Though he's spent the last five years trying to forget his family, Diego feels he has a responsibility to help his brother. Slowly, Diego and Klaus rebuild trust between each other and try to fix the rift between each other.AU where Diego didn't get kicked out of the Police Academy and Dave is the paramedic who always ends up picking up Klaus when he OD's.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I'm back on my bullshit. This idea came from that first sequence where we see Klaus being resuscitated in the ambulance. The paramedic looked like that'd happened before lol.

“So we’ve got two vics—a young couple in their mid-twenties. The boyfriend, Angel, is in surgery right now, but we’re supposed to interview the girlfriend, Lacy.” Eudora flips through the police file the two of them had been handed at the station as she and Diego walk through the hospital parking lot.

“They say what happened?” Diego asks.

“Looks like a pretty standard armed robbery. Responding units said the lock on the back door had been shot off, which is probably how the burglars got inside. Let’s see… says the burglars ran off when the neighbor heard the gunshot and came to investigate, but apparently the boyfriend managed to rip one of their masks off before he was shot. He should be fine—the bullet went into his arm and missed anything important. The girlfriend only got a black eye and a dislocated shoulder.”

Eudora passes the file over, and Diego glances over the papers. It’s pretty much just as Eudora said. It’s a miracle that their injuries are relatively minor. He hopes this couple knows how lucky both of them are. Not everyone comes out of an armed robbery in one piece, especially after they’ve seen the burglar’s face. And neighbors don’t always come and help.

“So I guess we’re supposed to get a statement from the girlfriend,” Diego says. Eudora nods. Diego passes the file back. “She in the waiting room?”

“That’s where the responding units left her.”

When they walk through the doors, it isn’t difficult to spot the victim. She’s the only one there, and she’s sporting a sling on her left arm and a pretty sizeable shiner. She looks up when Diego and Eudora approach.

“Hi.” Eudora keeps her voice gentle, offering a small smile. She sits down next to the girl and holds out a hand. “My name is Detective Eudora Patch, and this is my partner, Detective Diego Hargreeves. I know you’ve been through a lot tonight, but if you’re up for it, we need to ask you a few questions.”

The girl shakes Eudora’s hand. “Sure. I’m Lacy Mills,” she introduces herself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lacy,” Eudora says. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m alright, I guess. Could be better,” she shrugs. “But could be a lot worse too.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Eudora sounds perfectly sincere when she says it. With her compassionate nature, she’s become an expert at interviewing victims and witnesses. So Diego has learned to let her take the reins when they want to put someone at ease, just as she’s learned to let Diego do the talking when dealing with suspects. “Can you tell us what happened to you?”

Lacy takes a breath. “Angel and I were making dinner. Nothing fancy, just some boxed pasta and—sorry, I guess that doesn’t really matter.” She pauses and runs a shaky hand through her hair, then continues. “I was just setting drinks out on the coffee table—we were gonna watch a movie—when I heard a gunshot coming from the kitchen—there’s a door to the patio in there. I heard Angel shout, so I ran in… And I know it was stupid and I should’ve called 911, but I was just so scared that he—y’know…” she trails off.

“It’s okay, Lacy, take your time,” Eudora encourages. “You’re doing great. What happened when you went into the kitchen?”

“I—I saw two guys in ski masks. One of them had a gun pointed at Angel, the other one was going through our things, looking for valuables I guess. He attacked me, punched me in the face, and when I tried to fight back, he twisted my arm behind me and said if I didn’t calm down, he was gonna kill Angel. He took my phone and told me to stay put. I didn’t know what else to do so I just did what he said. I didn’t want them to hurt Angel.” She sobs a little.

“You did the right thing, Lacy.” Eudora pats her knee. “Do you need a break?”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Lacy sniffles, and Eudora produces a pack of tissues from her pocket to offer her. “Thank you.” Lacy blows her nose and takes another deep breath. “I saw Angel turn around and yank the mask off of the guy pointing a gun at him. And—and,” a tear rolls down her cheek, “And the guy just shot him. Angel fell over and I just started screaming for help. I thought they were gonna kill us both, but then our neighbor knocked on the front door, and the burglars got spooked and ran out.”

Eudora waits for a few seconds to let Lacy blow her nose again. Once Lacy’s calmed down a little, Eudora speaks. “Lacy, you’re very lucky,” she says. “So your neighbor knocked and the burglars ran away. Is that when you called 911?”

Lacy nods. “I had to use Angel’s phone because the burglars took mine. My neighbor stayed with us until the ambulance and the police got there.”

Eudora asks Lacy a few more questions, while Diego waits off to the side, then she comes over. “Lacy gave me a description of the one guy. She’ll need to talk to a sketch artist tomorrow, but we can go ahead and use her description to put a BOLO out on this guy.”

Diego nods. “Are we supposed to wait for the boyfriend to get out of surgery and talk to him too?”

“I think so,” Eudora says. “Lacy said the doctors told her it could be between two to six hours before he can see anyone, though.”

“It’s gonna be a long night then.” Diego glances over at Lacy. “She said the burglar took her phone. We can use that to track the perps down. Assuming they’re too dumb to cover their tracks.”

Eudora hums in agreement. “Good thinking. Hey, I’m gonna go grab a coffee from the cafeteria. Want me to get you anything?”

“Nah, I’m alright. I’ll keep an eye on Lacy in case she needs anything.”

Eudora smiles. “Thanks, Diego.” She squeezes his arm affectionately as she brushes by him and walks down the hall. And Diego definitely isn’t staring at her ass when he turns to watch her with a fond smile on his face.

Once Eudora turns the corner, Diego goes to the chairs lining the wall and takes a seat a few chairs away from Lacy. Clearly there for her, but not imposing his presence on her. He’s picked up that skill from Eudora.

He takes a utility knife from his belt and flips it open. Idly, he fiddles with it, a bored habit he’s had since he was a kid. Eudora once gave him grief about it, back before they really knew each other. He smiles to himself fondly at the memory.

They’d been only a few months into the Police Academy. Diego hadn’t yet made any friends except for Rodriguez, and he’d been intimidated by one of the girls, Patch, since day one. Not because she was particularly scary—even back then she’d been kinder than everyone else in their class—but because she was so unusually perceptive and empathetic. If anyone was gonna see through Diego’s tough façade, it was gonna be Patch.

The day he met Eudora, they were all supposed to shadow an officer during an interrogation. Diego and Eudora were sitting across the room from each other, both waiting for their turns. Bored, Diego had taken out one of his knives, which the Academy hadn’t quite managed to convince him to get rid of. He’d played with it the exact same way he’s playing with his knife now.

Eudora had made some snappy comment about how dangerous that was and how it went against protocol. Diego had smirked and asked if she’d rather him play with a gun, to which Eudora had rolled her eyes and said, “No. But at least if you shot yourself in the mouth, you might shut up.”

For whatever reason, that’d been the start of their strange friendship. Diego couldn’t explain why they worked—they just did. At times, Eudora would look at him in that soft way of hers, and she’d say kind things to him—things that he hadn’t ever heard from anyone before, besides his mom. And other times, they’d bicker and quarrel like they couldn’t even stand the sight of each other.

Over the last four years, those rougher moments have mostly smoothed out, though. Getting together and screwing had certainly eased a lot of the tension, even if they can’t be all couple-y at work. Diego likes to think he’s gotten better at treating Eudora respectfully too. Now, at twenty-two, he’s starting to think he’s finally shaken his screwed up past. He’s got a job and a house where he lives with his beautiful girlfriend, and he’s almost gotten over his childhood and his messed up family and all the guilt of leaving his mom behind.

He leans back, closes his eyes, and waits for Eudora to come back.

Only a few seconds later, though, the urgent shouting of paramedics causes him to crack his eyes open.

“He’s coding! Keep that mask on him!”

Diego sits up. The paramedics are rushing a stretcher through the door. He would never claim to understand doctor-speak, but he understands enough to know that they’re wheeling in a dying man. It twists his gut in the most horrible way. He hates death, hates thinking about people dying. It didn’t used to be a problem, obviously, since Reginald trained his children to be killers. Diego had taken lives before he truly understood mortality. But he can’t stomach it anymore. When he thinks about the dead, now all he sees is Ben.

The paramedics rush past him. On the stretcher, there’s a thin, pale form clad scantily in tight black pants and a sheer crop top. Diego can’t see much more through the throng of paramedics hurrying toward the ICU, so he sits back, tries to shake the image of Ben. But then one of the paramedics runs forward to grab the door, leaving a gap in the wall, and Diego leaps to his feet. His breathing falters, his heart sinks. Klaus.

The stretcher disappears through the doors before he can get another look, but Diego doesn’t need it. He would recognize the face of his brother anywhere. There’s no mistaking that those unruly curls and those green, unseeing eyes had belonged to Klaus.

Diego stands there with slumped shoulders, a sob rising up from his gut. He doesn’t want to cry, but he feels the choked, despairing whimper coming before it wrenches itself free. He’s about to lose another brother. First Five, then Ben, and now Klaus. It can’t be happening. His family is done ruining each other’s lives. That’s what he thought, at least.

He barely registers the sound of Eudora approaching. “Hey, I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I got you some empanadas. I thought you might be hungry and you said your mom used to—Diego?” Diego feels Eudora’s hand on his arm. She turns him to face her. “Diego, are you okay?”

Diego stares into her eyes, registers the concern there. “M-m-my brother.” He hates that he can’t hide his stutter, can’t hide his pain. “He j-just.” He gestures helplessly toward the doors to the ICU. “They h-had him on a s-stretcher. I th-think he’s dead.”

Speaking the words out loud sends a fresh wave of anguish through him. Now he’s said it, and he can’t pretend like this isn’t happening. Klaus might really be dead, gone forever. Will the first time his family sees him in six years be at his funeral? Will any of the others besides Diego care enough to come bury him? Diego blinks hard, feels his lip tremble.

“Oh, Diego.” Eudora sets the bags of food down on the ground and wraps her arms around him, squeezing gently. He lets himself be hugged and hugs her back and buries his face in her hair. She can surely feel the hot tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, but he can’t hold them in any more. Can’t hold in the quiet sobs shaking him.

Sure, he hasn’t seen Klaus since Klaus ran away when they were sixteen, and sure, he finds Klaus kind of obnoxious, but Klaus is still his brother, and despite everything, despite their differences, Diego cares about him. He doesn’t want him to die.

“Are you sure it was your brother you saw?” Eudora asks. She pulls away and looks into Diego’s eyes, rubbing up and down his arms in a way that only she knows is comforting to him. “It could’ve been someone else. Maybe just someone who looks like him?”

Diego shakes his head. He wishes she wouldn’t sound so hopeful. And he knows she’s just trying to make him feel better, but he can’t get the image of Klaus’ dull, glassy eyes out of his mind. The way they stared half-lidded and unseeing, or the way his mouth hung slack and silent under the oxygen mask. How his body lay limp and frail and so, so small, and his chest never rose an inch.

Diego feels nauseous from the sight. Klaus is animated and flamboyant. He should be moving and talking someone’s ear off, waving his long limbs around to emphasize some asinine point, driving the paramedics insane. He should never be so still. He’s never even slept without talking or thrashing about, and now…

Diego suddenly feels guilty for every time he’d secretly wished for Klaus to shut up and stop talking for once in his life, for every time he wanted nothing more than for Klaus to stop being Klaus. He’d give anything now to never have seen his brother laid out like that.

He sits down heavily, and Eudora kneels in front of him. “Do you want me to go ask about him?” she offers. “Maybe the receptionist can look and tell me if he’s alive or not. Hey, Diego, look at me.” She reaches out and cups his cheek. “Do you want me to do that?”

He doesn’t. He doesn’t want to hear them confirm the worst. But he also does, because maybe there’s a chance that Klaus will survive whatever happened to him. After all, he does have power over the dead—is too much to hope for him to have power over death itself?

“Okay,” he says. “You c-can ask.”

“What’s his name?”

“Klaus Hargreeves.”

Eudora squeezes his leg, then stands and goes over to the reception desk. Diego watches her talk to the receptionist.

At first the receptionist looks suspicious, until Eudora gets out her badge. Diego imagines she’s saying something about investigating “suspicious circumstances” surrounding Klaus. Whatever she says works, and the receptionist turns to her monitor to search for Klaus in the system. She says a few words to Eudora, who nods seriously and returns to Diego.

“They resuscitated him,” she tells him. Relief washes over Diego. Klaus is alive. “But he’s in critical condition. At this point, it’s touch and go.”

Diego nods and takes a moment to compose himself. “What happened?” he asks. His grief is churning into pure fury. If someone hurt Klaus, he’s gonna kill them.

“You don’t wanna hear it,” Eudora says.

“Please. I need to know what happened. That’s my brother in there. I can’t just—I want you to tell me. I can handle it.”

There’s clearly some sort of debate going on in Eudora’s head. Not a good sign. Finally, she opens her mouth. “He OD’d.”

Diego’s heart sinks as the joy of Klaus being alive is dampened. If he’s being honest with himself, the thought had crossed his mind—after all, there’d been no blood—but he’d hoped—really hoped—that he was wrong.

Everyone knew about it when Klaus started using drugs to suppress his powers before they were even teenagers. It was the biggest open secret in the house, which Reginald pretended not to know about. But Diego had caught Pogo, on more than one occasion, searching Klaus’ room for the pills he stashed in every corner. It wasn’t hard to figure out that Reginald had ordered Pogo to do it.

They’d all watched as Klaus became hopelessly addicted—the family junkie. Once Klaus started doing drugs, Diego can’t even remember a time when he saw Klaus sober, but there were many nights when, through the thin walls, Diego could hear Klaus crying and screaming because the drugs had worn off in his sleep. He went through his days in a haze. It was like he forgot how to function without being intoxicated to the point of numbness.

And then, one morning, he’d just been gone. Bed empty, sketchbooks gone, and not a drug in the house. There wasn’t even a goodbye note. Ben had taken Klaus’ disappearance the hardest, just like Vanya when Five had gone missing. Contrarily, Reginald had seemed almost happy to have Klaus out of the way. Spying on him one night, Diego had even overheard him tell Pogo that Klaus was nothing but a disappointment anyway and that it was probably best if he never came back.

Diego never told any of his siblings about hearing that, but it was that moment which made him truly hate Reginald, and he always hoped that Klaus had found somewhere better to live. He never thought that six years since he last saw his brother, he’d see him like this—dead from an overdose, revived at the last minute.

“What was it?” he asks. “What did he take?” Eudora shifts uncomfortably, looks away. “Eudora. Tell me what he took.”

She’s silent a moment longer, looks reluctant to tell him, but he just stares at her imploringly until she caves. “Heroin.”

“Jesus Christ.” Diego buries his face in his hands. He had no idea it had gotten that bad. Last he saw Klaus, it was just weed and pills.

Heroin. It seems too awful to be true.

“I’m sorry, Diego.” Eudora sits down next to him and lets him lean his head on her shoulder. “Did you know he was using?”

“Not heroin,” Diego says. “But this is the first time I’ve seen him in six years, so I can’t say I’m surprised. He ran away from home when we were sixteen.”

“Because of your dad?”

“Yeah. Dad was a real prick to him.”

Eudora sighs. “Do you want me to ask when you can see him?”

“I don’t want to see him.” Diego looks down at his shoes. “I’d rather he didn’t even know I was here.”

“You don’t mean that. He’s your brother—why wouldn’t you want to see him?”

“It’s complicated,” Diego says. “My family isn’t exactly conventional, and like I said, Klaus and I haven’t seen each other since we were sixteen.”

“Look. Diego…” Eudora chews her lower lip. “I know that I know next to nothing about your family, and that’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. But I do know that if it was my brother in there, I’d want to see him, no matter what happened in the past. He needs you, Diego.”

Diego knows she’s right. It’s likely that unless he goes to see Klaus, no one will, and Klaus will be discharged right back to whatever shithole he’s been living in. Back to his drugs.     It’s hard, though. They’ve both worked so hard to get away from their family, and Diego’s so much different than he was when he was sixteen. He and Klaus are no better than strangers now. Can he justify walking back into Klaus’ life after years of cold separation? What if seeing Diego does Klaus more harm than good?

But then, what if this is a chance to reconnect with the only living brother that he still cares about? If there’s even a sliver of a possibility that he can help Klaus, shouldn’t he at least try? Maybe Klaus just needs to know that someone in his family is still here for him.

“You’re right,” Diego decides. “I’ll go ask.”

He stands, and Eudora lets him pass. He turns back and gets a reassuring smile, which he returns weakly before approaching the receptionist.

“Hi. I’d like to ask about a Klaus Hargreeves?”

The receptionist peers up at him. “I already told your partner what happened.”

“Oh, no, this isn’t—I’m his brother.”

“Oh.” The receptionist clears her throat. “I’m sorry, I just thought—”

“It’s fine,” Diego cuts in. “No worries. I just want to know if I can visit him.”

“Let me make a call,” she says. She picks up the phone and punches in a number. Diego shifts his weight back and forth while they wait. Finally, someone picks up. “Hello? Yes, Klaus Hargreeves’ brother is here. He wants to know when he can visit… Okay, thank you.” She sets down the phone. “They’re moving him to his own room now, and once he’s situated, they’ll send a nurse out to come get you. Just wait here for now.”

“Thanks.” Diego swallows thickly and returns to his chair. Thankfully, Eudora doesn’t say anything and just threads her fingers through his and squeezes lightly.

Lacy clears her throat. “Detective Hargreeves?”

Diego looks over. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about your brother. I hope he’s okay.”

Diego just nods. Poor Lacy. She’s been through so much tonight, and she still has the compassion to reach out to him, even though she doesn’t have to and Diego wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to just ignore his problems. Eudora thanks Lacy for him, and they wait.

A nurse calls Diego back about half an hour later. He stands abruptly and glances down at Eudora for approval.

“Go,” she says. “I’ll stay here.”

“Okay.” He turns and follows the nurse, who smiles at him.

“You’re Klaus’ brother?” he asks.

“Yup.”

The nurse nods. “He’s gonna pull through. It was a close call, but he’s stable now.”

Diego fights down a bitter laugh. Stable is not the word he would use to describe Klaus. In fact, Klaus is pretty much characterized by his instability.

Instead of laughing, he asks, “He awake yet?”

The nurse shakes his head. “He won’t wake up until morning probably. You’re welcome to stay until he does, since you’re family. Do you know if anyone else is coming?”

“No,” Diego says. “No one else.” And he suddenly hates his siblings like he hates his father because no, they’re not coming. In fact, none of them will even know or care that Klaus OD’d in the first place. It’s only by coincidence that Diego knows, an awful realization.

The nurse leads Diego to a door that looks like all the rest and opens it. He steps aside so Diego can approach the bed. Diego has to force himself to look at his brother.

“Hey, Klaus,” he whispers hoarsely. “How you doing, bro?” He sits down in the chair next to the bed and reaches out to brush Klaus’ hair off his forehead. Then he drops his hand and clenches his fist in his lap. Klaus looks terrible.

His lips and fingernails are still tinged just slightly blue, the rest of his skin pale and sickly. He’s too thin, and looks so brittle that one wrong move might break him. His skinny chest rises and falls slowly and erratically as his body fights the tube in his mouth forcing air down his throat. He has bags under his eyes that take up too much of his gaunt face.

Diego hears the door close and turns to see that the nurse has left to give him some privacy. He turns back to Klaus, and it all breaks loose and he finds himself sobbing openly.

“Why?” Diego asks through his tears. “Why w-would you do this? Don’t you know heroin c-can kill you?”

Klaus doesn’t answer, and even though Diego knows it’s stupid, that only makes him cry harder. This is wrong. All he wants is for Klaus to wake up and jab right back with one of those snarky retorts that he always has ready.

“W-when you w-w-wake up,” Diego says, “I’m gonna b-beat the shit out of you, you p-p-prick. You hear m-me?” He wipes angrily at his tears. He doesn’t mean it—he never wants anyone or anything to hurt Klaus ever again. But if Klaus can hear him, Diego wants him to know how upset he is, and threatening him is the only way he knows how to do that.

With a sigh, Diego grasps Klaus’ hand and just holds on. Klaus is blessedly warm. Somewhat illogically, Diego had been a little scared that his skin would be cold, even if all the machines insist that he’s alive and breathing. It’s hard not to think that way when Klaus looks like a corpse.

He sits that way for a long time, just holding onto Klaus like if he lets go, Klaus will slip away. The steady beeping of machines reassures him that Klaus is still kicking.

At some point he dozes off, hunched over in the chair, with his head resting on the bed next to Klaus and Klaus’ hand still clutched in his. It’s a fitful sleep, but it’s sleep that he needs.

He comes to when a nurse comes in to check in on Klaus. It’s not the same nurse who brought Diego to the room, but she doesn’t look surprised to see him. The other nurse must’ve told her that he’d be in here.

Once the nurse is satisfied that everything is normal and as expected, she leaves, quietly shutting the door behind her. Diego rolls his neck to get out the stiffness.

He checks his phone for the time. 7:37am. There’s several texts from Eudora waiting for him.

_Angel is awake, going in with Lacy to interview him_

_Got his statement, headed back to the station. Will tell captain where u are_

_I’ll come pick you up later if u want, just text_

_You ok?_

Diego types out a quick response, just so she doesn’t panic.

_I’m alright. Fell asleep in Klaus’ room. Sorry._

Once the text sends, Diego puts his phone down and sits back. There’s nothing left to do now except keep an eye on Klaus and wait for him to wake up.

Klaus looks a little less like death in the early morning light. Still too thin and too pale, but the blue tint is gone from around his nails and lips. His breathing doesn’t sound as labored either and is coming more regularly, which is a huge relief.

Diego picks his phone back up.

_He’s doing better I think, but I’m gonna stay a while longer, at least til he wakes up._

He hits send. Eudora doesn’t know Klaus, but she’ll feel better knowing that Diego’s okay because Klaus is.

After waiting a few more minutes, Diego gets up and goes to the window. He stares out at the cars driving by and the people walking down the sidewalk. They all look so carefree and normal. There’s couples strolling hand in hand, families that smile when they look at each other. If only Diego’s life had been so simple. Maybe if he’d grown up with a normal family, he wouldn’t be here, seeing his six-years estranged brother for the first time in a hospital.

Maybe Klaus wouldn’t be in the hospital in the first place.

A soft groan draws Diego’s attention. He turns to see Klaus staring at him with big, startled eyes. Diego’s never been so happy to see that confused look on his face.

“Klaus,” he breathes. He walks over and envelops Klaus in a loose hug. What he really wants is to grab him and hold him tight and never let go, but he’s too scared of accidentally hurting him. He lets go and tries to smile. “Let me call a nurse, we’ll get that tube out of you.”

Klaus nods slowly, and Diego goes to find a nurse. When he does, he returns to the room and waits anxiously while the nurse removes Klaus’ breathing tube.

“He should be able to breathe on his own, now that he’s awake,” she says. “But press that button if something goes wrong.” Then she leaves again.

Diego walks back over to Klaus, who is still abnormally silent and looking slightly bewildered. He jumps when Diego places a hand on his shoulder.

Diego frowns. “Klaus, you okay?”

Klaus blinks up at him. His face is blank, like he doesn’t recognize Diego after all these years. But then his eyes widen, and he lets out a breath.

“Diego?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are more than welcome, and you can catch me on tumblr [@lastoftherealblues](http://lastoftherealblues.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Note: Please, no comments about shipping siblings. If I see any allusion to sibling ships, I will delete your comment. Sorry, I'm just not comfortable with all that


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoohoo! Happy Apocalypse Day!!! To celebrate the occasion, I've finally finished up this chapter for y'all. Enjoy!

“What…” Klaus’ eyes flick back and forth between Diego and some place off to the side of Diego’s head. His voice is hoarse from just having had the breathing tube removed, but Diego can’t care because he hasn’t heard his brother’s voice in years and he almost lost the chance forever last night. “What are you doing here?” Klaus asks.

Okay, that kind of stings and dampens Diego’s mood, but of course Klaus wouldn’t expect Diego to know he’d been hospitalized. It’s not like the hospital would’ve known to call—he and Klaus don’t have each other’s numbers in the first place. Diego tries to laugh it off. “I’m your brother, asshole. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Klaus opens his mouth, then shuts it. Chews his lip. He seems at a loss for words—or at least words that won’t spark an argument. “I dunno,” he finally says. “It’s just…been a while is all.” He tugs at the neck of his hospital gown, staring past Diego. “So how’d you find out? Anonymous tip? Happy accident? New psychic powers? And don’t try and tell me you’ve been keeping tabs on me. We both know you haven’t.”

Diego swallows. Klaus still knows him too well, knows his predilection for the merciful lie. The worst part is that he really was going to say that. “I—I was here with my partner last night, interviewing a vic for a case. I was in the waiting room and saw you being wheeled in.”

“Oh, well that’s just fabulous,” Klaus mutters. “Of course you’re a cop. Isn’t that just my luck. Well, I guess that means you got out of the Academy too, huh?”

Diego’s not entirely sure if Klaus is trying to make actual conversation or not, but he nods anyway. “Yup. Left right before our eighteenth birthday—just packed up my things and said I was going to the Police Academy. Dad wasn’t happy about it.”

That gets a giggle from Klaus. “I’m sure he wasn’t. I’ll bet Luther was, though.”

“Oh yeah, he was thrilled.” Diego smirks at the memory. “I mean, he had to pretend like he wanted me to stay for Dad’s sake, but I could tell he was glad to see me go.”

“Well, duh—you were his biggest competition. Are you glad you left?”

“Is that even a question?” Diego asks with a pointed look.

“I suppose not. You’d have to be crazy to want to go back.” Klaus squeezes his eyes shut and presses his thumbs against the bridge of his nose, the flesh at the inner corners of his eyes turning white from the pressure. “Say, you don’t happen to have any—”

“Nope,” Diego says quickly—maybe a little too quickly.

Klaus glares at him, and the hurt in his eyes is sharp. “Calm down there, Detective, I was only gonna ask for some painkillers. My head is killing me.”

Diego takes a slow breath, avoiding Klaus’ eyes. That was cruel of him to sort-of accuse Klaus of trying to get illicit drugs off of him. Not that he doesn’t have good reason to assume that, but he still feels bad. They’d actually been having a relatively normal conversation. Plus, he’s trying to _not_ hurt Klaus. Obviously, he’s not doing so great with that at the moment.

“I’m not giving you anything,” he amends. “But I can go get a nurse.” He stands to go track down someone who knows what they’re doing, but Klaus’ hand on his wrist stops him.

“Hey, hey, wait, no, forget it, it’s okay, I’m okay.”

“You’re in the hospital, bro. You’re most definitely not okay.” Diego sits back down, though, and Klaus lets go of him. He immediately goes back to pressing on his sinuses and groaning quietly. Diego watches for a few seconds, then shakes his head and nudges Klaus’ shoulder. “Bro, come on, let me call a nurse in here. They can help you.”

“No, I’m fine, Diego, I swear.” He waves dismissively. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Klaus, man, are you sure? Because if you really need painkillers, I’m more than happy to get you a nurse.”

Klaus’ answering sigh is heavy and sad. “Just leave it, okay? Jesus, why do you even care?” Those last words are said softly, with his head turned away, but Diego hears them, and it feels like a fist closing around his heart.

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” he says, voice thick in his throat. Truth is, he does know what Klaus means, but for whatever twisted reason, he wants to hear Klaus say it.

Klaus doesn’t disappoint, letting out a breath of a laugh before he speaks. “What I mean,” he says, keeping his eyes fixed resolutely to the wall, “Is that you haven’t even _tried_ to contact me in six years, and then all of a sudden, you show up here and act like you want to be my brother again? It’s been years since you gave a single shit about me, and the only reason you do right now is because you _accidentally_ saw me last night. I mean, what kind of bullshit is that?”

Diego hadn’t been expecting Klaus to get so personal, and he’s immediately defensive. “Bro, you’re the one who ran away,” he says. He ignores the way Klaus’ jaw tightens. If Klaus wants to start digging where he knows it hurts, that’s fine. But two can play at this game. “You think we didn’t look for you for weeks after you ran off? You think Vanya didn’t leave out plates of waffles with blueberries on top, and leave her bedroom light on every single night? You think Mom didn’t have to be reprogrammed so she’d stop standing in your doorway calling you down for dinner? You think Ben wasn’t asking for you when he—” Diego stops himself. That’s a low blow and he knows it.

But he’s said enough, and he sees the way Klaus swallows hard and his lip starts to shake. “I think you should go,” he whispers.

“Klaus—”

“Go,” Klaus repeats, louder. “Please.” His voice cracks, and Diego closes his eyes against another onslaught of tears because dammit, he hadn’t meant to take it so far, hadn’t meant to really hurt Klaus. Apparently, he can’t even talk to his brother for five minutes without picking a fight and making him cry.

“Okay,” he says. As he stands, he reaches out to touch Klaus’ shoulder—wanting to apologize, comfort him, anything—but Klaus flinches away from him.

Even though Diego knows he deserves the angry set of Klaus’ jaw and his furious silence, the rejection still hurts like hell. He sighs and drops his hand, understanding that it’s no use trying to talk to Klaus. “I’m sorry.”

Klaus doesn’t answer, so Diego walks out, livid at himself. Why did he have to say that? He knew it would upset Klaus, and maybe that was the point, but Klaus and Ben were closer than Diego ever was with any of his siblings, and Diego bets Klaus only found out about Ben’s death through the papers. No doubt he’s has already eaten himself alive with the guilt of abandoning Ben only a year before he died—he didn’t need Diego to remind him that Ben is gone forever now.

Diego texts Eudora on the way to the lobby.

_Can you come get me now?_

Eudora responds almost immediately.

_Sure! Everything okay?_

Diego’s thumb hovers over the keyboard. Everything’s not okay, but he doesn’t know if he wants to tell her that. If he does tell her what happened, she’ll probably march him right back inside and try to make them get along, which, while well-intentioned, might not be the best idea, if the past is any sort of indication. He doesn’t want to lie to her, though, so he settles for dodging the question.

_Klaus is awake but he doesn’t want visitors._

That should be a good enough answer. It’s close enough to the truth, anyway, and as long as he acts normal when he sees her, she won’t question it. He pockets his phone and walks through the lobby doors to wait for Eudora outside.

When she arrives, Diego puts on a big smile that he hopes looks natural. He greets her with a light peck on the cheek as he slides into the passenger seat. “Thanks for picking me up,” he says.

“No problem,” she responds. She quirks an eyebrow at him. “You seem awfully happy. Any particular reason why?”

“Just glad Klaus is okay,” he says. “It was kinda scary last night, y’know?”

“Riiight.” Eudora doesn’t sound entirely convinced, but much to Diego’s relief, she doesn’t press. She just smiles back. “Well, I’m glad he’s alright. Hey, do you wanna go get breakfast? I told the captain that we won’t be in today because of your brother.”

Diego doesn’t feel much like eating after his fight with Klaus, but if he says no, Eudora will definitely know something’s up.

“Sure, why not?” he says. “Your choice.” He can feel Eudora’s eyes staring hard at the side of his head, trying to read him, but he doesn’t look back at her. Instead, he takes out one of the knives on his belt and focuses on spinning it through his fingers and keeping his face absolutely neutral.

“Okay,” she says, and shifts the car into drive. The space between them is filled by the music on the radio, and the static that cuts in every few seconds. Eudora give Diego about five minutes to brood in silence before she reaches over the console to hold his hand. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I want to be here for you.”

Diego clenches his other fist around the knife and nods, his jaw tight. “I know.”

“Which means that you can tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I _know_ ,” he repeats. “I just…” He sighs. “It’s hard to talk about.”

She rubs the back of his hand with her thumb. “Something happened between you and your brother, didn’t it?”

Though he keeps his eyes fixed on where Eudora’s hand is laid over his, something in his face must give him away because Eudora sighs heavily and squeezes his hand.

“We had a fight,” Diego admits. He might as well, since she’s already figured him out. And if he doesn’t talk about it with Eudora, he won’t talk about it with anyone, and he needs to get it off his chest. “I brought up something from our past that I shouldn’t have, and he kicked me out.”

They pull up to a red light, and Eudora looks over at him. “Diego,” she says gently. “Hey, look at me.” Slowly, Diego raises his eyes to meet hers. “It’s okay. We all make mistakes, and family can be difficult. Whatever you said to him, I’m sure you didn’t mean it.”

Diego shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. He doesn’t know that I didn’t mean it, and what I said—” He can’t bring himself to say it again. He’s too ashamed.

“It’s okay, you can tell me,” Eudora says. “I love you, and I’m not going to think any different of you, I promise. You just have to trust me, okay?”

Diego doesn’t say anything for a long moment. Then, “I brought up our dead brother.” He stares out the window, unwilling to face Eudora and her judgement. Waiting for the inevitable fallout of his admission is torturous, but it’s out there now, and he’ll have to deal with however this changes the way Eudora sees him.

She doesn’t judge him, though, instead asking gently, “Were they close, Klaus and your other brother?”

Diego nods. “Yeah,” he says. “They were—they were about as close as brothers could be. Up until Klaus ran away, they were inseparable. I mean,” Diego shakes his head. “They were two morbid peas in one messed up pod. Klaus is constantly being followed around and haunted by angry ghosts, and Ben—he had these literal monsters living inside him, and I think… I think that maybe they comforted each other, or something like that. I dunno, I wasn’t very close to anyone but my mom.”

He stops there. This is the most he’s ever told anyone about his family.

Eudora already knew about the Umbrella Academy. That would’ve been impossible to hide, since he’s kept his real last name, and even if he hadn’t, he would want her to know about such an integral part of his past. She knows most everything about his powers too, but he’s never gone into great deal about what his siblings can do.

She _has_ managed to get the basics—Luther has super-strength, Allison changes reality, Klaus can see dead people, Five disappeared, Ben died, Vanya is ordinary. Beyond that, though, Diego has intentionally kept things vague.

“I can understand them being close,” Eudora says. “In a sense, their powers would’ve made them feel very on the fringe of the world, and that has to be hard. To me, it sounds like they’d be the only ones who could relate to one another.”

Diego nods. “Yeah, exactly. So you see why I shouldn’t have brought up Ben? It was just—he accused me of not caring about him, and maybe he was right to say that, but I was so hurt by it because I do care about him.” He shakes his head sadly. “You can’t really say that to someone you haven’t seen since you were a teenager, though. I started listing all the ways that him leaving changed the family—little things like Mom forgetting that he wouldn’t be down for dinner, or Vanya leaving on her lights at night in case he ever came home. And then I—”

He cuts himself off as a tear starts forming in the corner of his eye. He watches it fall onto his leg and soak into his pants before he goes on in a choked voice. “When Ben died, he asked for Klaus. Asked for him over and over and over again. And we couldn’t—we still had no idea where Klaus was. Hadn’t seen him since he left.

“All Ben wanted while he was dying was to have his best friend by his side, but all he had was me and Luther and Allison. And that’s what I told Klaus today. I couldn’t stop myself until it was too late to take it back.” Another tear falls, and Diego wipes his eyes on his sleeve.

“Diego,” Eudora begins. “I’m not saying what you did was right, or justified, or anything like that. But I understand, okay? I have brothers too, I get it. So stop acting like I’m gonna break up with you or something because I’m not. And Klaus won’t hate you forever.”

“No, you don’t know my family,” Diego says. “All of us can hold grudges for a very long time. Even Vanya, and she’s the nicest out of all of us. It’ll probably be a while before Klaus forgives me for this.”

“Maybe. But you should still go back later and try to apologize to him.”

“Why, so he can just kick me out again?”

Eudora rolls her eyes. “No, so he at least knows that you didn’t mean what you said and that you’re sorry. You have to show him that you really do still care about him, and apologizing after you’ve said something hurtful is a good way to do that.”

“This was a little bit bigger than just simple insults, Eudora,” Diego says. Even though she’s probably right, he feels the need to defend his resistance to going back. “This was using his favorite brother’s death against him.”

Eudora isn’t letting up though. “Yeah,” she says. “And so what? If you ask me, that’s just more reason to try to make it better.” She laughs a little. “Geez, it’s like you’ve never been taught how to healthily resolve conflict.”

“I haven’t.” Diego looks over at her. “Wasn’t really a priority in my family.”

“Okay, well—” Eudora looks up as if she’s praying for patience. “Look, you said Klaus can talk to the dead, right? So maybe he can talk to Ben. Maybe if you go back there and suggest that to him, he’ll be grateful and maybe forgive you.”

Diego pauses. Klaus _can_ talk to the dead. And then it all clicks in Diego’s head. He remembers Klaus’ confusion at seeing him sitting in the chair next to his bed, the way he kept looking between Diego and the wall, and staring past him while he was talking.

Diego could punch himself for being so stupid.

“Turn the car around,” he says.

“What?”

“I have to get back to Klaus. Now. Turn the car—shit!”

The tires screech as Eudora makes a sudden U-turn. Thank goodness they’re on a quiet road with no other cars around because Eudora drives like a maniac. Diego’s not really complaining, though, because for once, he’s grateful for her questionable driving habits.

He’s anxious the whole way back, his leg bouncing up and down almost of its own accord. A million thoughts are running through his head, mostly potential scenarios about what he’ll say to Klaus. He’s as silent as he was when Eudora picked him up from the hospital, but this time she seems to understand that he really can’t talk about what’s on his mind.

Klaus can talk to dead people. It’s not a fact that Diego could forget if he tried. Yet somehow, not once had it occurred to him that there might’ve been somebody else in the hospital room with him and Klaus—that Ben might’ve been there.

Maybe he’d just assumed that if Ben’s been hanging around Klaus that he’d have convinced him to come home by now, or that he’d have stopped Klaus from overdosing on heroin. No wonder the thought slipped his mind.

Eudora pulls into the drop-off loop, and Diego leaps out of the car, shoving the door closed behind him. He races inside without looking back—Eudora will catch up. The elevators are too slow, so he runs to the stairwell and climbs as fast as he can up to the sixth floor.

As he races through the corridors, he prays that Klaus hasn’t been discharged and that he’s still here. If he’s gone, Diego has no idea how—or even if—he’ll ever find him again. Klaus seems to have a knack for getting lost.

He’s out of breath by the time he reaches Klaus’ door. A quick glance at the clipboard hanging under the room number confirms that he’s still inside, or at least that no one else has been moved in since this morning. Diego thinks he can maybe hear Klaus’ voice through the door too, talking animatedly to someone. His heart races because god, what if that’s Ben in there? Diego takes a deep breath and knocks.

To his surprise, an unfamiliar man in a paramedic’s uniform opens the door. He looks as surprised to see Diego as Diego is to see him. “Uh…” He turns around half-way to address Klaus. “Klaus, were you expecting a visitor?”

“What? No, I—” Klaus’ eyes darken when he sees Diego. “Oh.”

“Hey, Klaus,” Diego says.

“Hey, Diego.”

The man evidently notices the sudden tension, and he clears his throat. “Well, I should probably get back to work. My break’s almost up.” He waves to Klaus, and then turns back around, jumping as if he’d forgotten Diego was standing in the doorway. “Oh, uh, ‘scuse me.”

Diego lets the man slide past him, then slips inside and shuts the door.

“I thought I told you to—”

“You can see Ben.” Diego crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

“Excuse me? I don’t know wh—”

“Is he in here right now?” he plows on. “Lemme guess.” Diego points to the chair he’d been sitting in less than an hour ago. “He’s sitting right there.”

He and Klaus stare each other down for several very intense seconds, and then Klaus finally caves.

“Fine, fine, fine, you got me,” he grumbles. “But no.” He points to the window sill. “He’s sitting over there. Dave was in the chair.”

“Dave?” Diego raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Y’know, the paramedic guy that you just scared the shit out of. He’s the one who picked me up last night, and he wanted to come see if I was okay.”

That’s a little weird in Diego’s opinion, but the guy, Dave, didn’t seem all that terrible of a person so Diego doesn’t know if he should be lecturing Klaus or not. Sure, most paramedics don’t typically remember specific patients well enough to track them down and check in on them, but maybe Dave is just really good with faces, or it was a slow night for him. Diego kind of wants to interrogate Klaus about him some more, but he ultimately decides to let it go because he’s really here to ask about Ben.

“So why didn’t you tell me that you could conjure Ben?” he asks. Since Ben isn’t using the chair, he walks over and sits down. Thankfully, Klaus doesn’t yell at him to get out.

Instead, he rolls his eyes like him being able to see Ben is the most obvious thing in the world. “What do you mean, why didn’t I tell you I could conjure Ben? Of course I can conjure him, asshole! He’s dead. I conjure dead people. It’s not my problem you couldn’t figure that out on your own.”

Diego glares at him. “Hey, man, I was a little distracted by you almost dying, okay? I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that you might’ve had him in here. So again, why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t—” Klaus waves his arms dramatically, searching for the right thing to say. “It wasn’t relevant.”

“Wasn’t relevant?” Diego wants to smack Klaus. “I thought I’d really hurt you by bringing up Ben. Like maybe you had some things you wished you’d said to him but never got the chance to, or maybe you had to find out about him through the news. I’ve spent all morning feeling terrible about myself and like I’m the worst brother in the world, and that wouldn’t be a problem if I’d just known that you’ve been able to see Ben this whole time!”

“Oh, I’m crying for you, Diego, I truly am,” Klaus drawls with a hand to his heart, before sharply glaring over at the window. “You shut up, this has nothing to do with you!”

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Klaus is talking to Ben, and Diego jumps on the opportunity. “Hey, hold on a minute, I think this has everything to do with Ben.”

Klaus looks appalled. “Oh, great, now you two are ganging up on me, huh? Jesus, can’t a guy catch a break, I mean—” He gestures between Diego and the window. “I mean, you two can’t even talk to each other.”

Diego groans. “Look, Klaus, I—”

“One at a time, people!” Klaus yells, holding his arms out to silence Diego and, presumably, Ben. “Ben, I like you better, so you first.”

Even if that’s true, it’s obvious enough that Klaus said it to be rude on purpose, but Diego can’t help but be a little stung. Instead of giving Klaus the satisfaction of making him mad, though, he just sighs and sits back and watches Klaus as he listens to Ben.

“…Alright, fine,” Klaus says after a minute. “But don’t think we’re done here.” He turns to Diego. “Okay, I guess I have to listen to you now. What do you want?”

Again, Diego refuses to let Klaus get to him. He reminds himself that Klaus always lashes out when he’s upset, and that it’s no help to either of them if Diego starts biting back.

“I just came here to apologize,” he says. Klaus blinks as if in genuine surprise but doesn’t cut him off, so he keeps going. “Earlier today, I shouldn’t have used Ben’s death against you, and it doesn’t make a difference that you can see and talk to Ben because I know it’s not the same.” He keeps his eyes carefully fixed on Klaus’, taking in every emotion that flashes across his face. “I also—I want to apologize for giving up on you. It’s… well, it’s still on you that you ran away in the first place, but it’s on us for not trying harder to bring you home.”

Tentatively, he reaches out to lay his hand over Klaus’ arm. He feels Klaus’ muscles flex like he wants to pull away, but the arm stays where it is, and Diego lets out a long breath.

“I can’t undo the last six years,” he says. “But I’d like to—to maybe try to be your brother again, if you’ll let me.”

Klaus’ eyes drop down to where Diego is still holding onto him, and Diego can almost see the conflict in him. In that moment, it takes all of his willpower to not just let go of Klaus’ arm, say forget it, and walk out. That’s how thick the tension is.

But then, ever so slowly, Klaus’ other hand comes up and pats Diego’s hand, and he looks up at Diego with those big, sad, trusting eyes and says, “Okay.”

There’s a knock on the door, and the moment shatters. Diego gives Klaus’ arm a single squeeze before going to the door and opening it.

“Oh, Eudora! Come in.” He steps aside to let Eudora past. “Klaus, this is my girlfriend and partner, Eudora. Eudora, this is Klaus.”

Klaus’ jaw drops and he lets out a breathy laugh. “Diego, you slick bastard, you didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend! Oh my god.”

“Klaus…” Diego warns.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just a little surprised, y’know, you’re just so…” Klaus snaps his fingers a few times like he can’t think of the right word. “You’re just so Diego,” he finishes.

To Diego’s embarrassment, Eudora actually laughs at that. He stares at her in shock. “Eudora, baby, please don’t encourage him.”

“Oh, no, by all means, do encourage me,” Klaus insists. He beckons her over and holds out one thin hand. “Charmed to meet you,” he says. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Just here to support Diego,” she says, as she takes his hand and gives it a good firm shake. “It took forever to find parking and then even longer to convince the receptionist to let me up here, otherwise I would’ve been here sooner.”

Diego snorts. “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t have wanted to sit in on anything before this anyway.”

Klaus laughs with him. “Yeah, probably not.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Eudora says slowly, with a half-smile on her lips. She loops her arm through Diego’s. “Did you two talk about what you needed to?”

“You mean about Ben being dead?” Klaus blurts out. He looks almost as shocked as Diego is at his bluntness. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I said that. That’s not—sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Eudora assures him. “Diego already told me a little bit about what happened. Is he…” She glances around. “Is he here right now?”

Klaus gasps. “You told her?” He doesn’t sound so much offended as just surprised, but it makes Diego uncomfortable to be put on the spot.

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend,” he says, somewhat defensively.

“Oh.” Klaus furrows his brow. “Right.”

“What, don’t tell me you forgot already?” Diego teases him. “I just introduced you two a minute ago.”

“No!” Klaus exclaims. “No, it’s—it’s not that, it’s just that if I told every girlfriend or boyfriend I’ve ever had about seeing Ben, the whole city would know.”

Diego rolls his eyes. “I meant she’s my serious girlfriend. Not just a week-long fling with someone I met at a bar.”

“Touché,” Klaus concedes. “I’m still shocked, though. I thought you would’ve wanted to forget all about us. Y’know. Become a new man or whatever.”

Diego shrugs. “I wasn’t gonna hide it from her. Plus, it’s hard to talk about my childhood _without_ mentioning the Umbrella Academy and our powers.”

“Alright, fair. And to answer your question,” Klaus says to Eudora. “He is here. Right over there.” He points over to the window, and of course Ben’s still in the exact same spot. Diego remembers the way Ben would always pick a favorite spot in whatever room he was in and then stay there indefinitely.

Eudora waves to the spot Klaus is pointing at. “Hi, Ben,” she says.

A broad smile overtakes Klaus’ face. “He says he approves of you,” he announces. After a moment of listening to Ben again, his face drops. “Oh. He also says that you two should leave now. He wants to talk to me alone.”

Normally, Diego would take issue with being bossed around by a sibling, but he can tell by Klaus’ expression that Ben is serious. Whatever Ben needs to talk about, it’s no small thing.

“Okay, bro,” he agrees. He hates to leave Klaus all alone here again, but this moment isn’t for him and Eudora to witness. And besides, Klaus isn’t really alone if he’s got Ben with him, whether or not that’s something he actually wants. “We’ll be back tomorrow, though, okay? Right after work.”

Klaus smiles, a little thin at the edges. He looks as if he’s not sure if Diego’s telling the truth or not but like he really hopes he is. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Diego pats his leg through the thin hospital sheets. “See you, bro.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Diego and Eudora wave goodbye, and then walk out, leaving Klaus to talk with Ben in private. For a brief second, Diego regrets not asking Klaus what it exactly it was that Ben wanted to talk to him about, but that’s stupid—Klaus probably wouldn’t have told him anyway.

“So,” Diego says. “Now you’ve officially met one of my siblings.”

Eudora smiles. “Yeah, I like him. Are they all that… eccentric?” Eccentric is a very nice way of describing Klaus, Diego thinks. It’s certainly fitting, but honestly kind of tame compared to how Diego would’ve phrased it.

“No,” he says. “Just Klaus. The rest of them are a lot less out there, if you get what I’m saying. He’s certainly the chattiest.”

To that, Eudora nods in agreement as they step outside. It’s almost like Déjà vu from this morning, but now Diego’s leaving with Eudora instead of waiting for her, and he’s not fighting with Klaus.

It suddenly hits him how incredibly glad he is that he happened to see Klaus last night. Not glad that he had to suffer through thinking Klaus was dead, of course—his stomach is still churning at how fresh that image is in his mind—but glad that by some miracle of fate, he’s being handed a second chance at being there for Klaus.

It’s almost surreal to be seeing Klaus and talking casually with him again after all these years apart. They’d been able to fall back into their normal rhythm so easily, right down to the bickering over nothing. Of course, he seems older now—and different—but there’s so much of the old Klaus still there that it makes Diego’s heart ache a little.

He tells Eudora as much as they arrive at her car and she unlocks the doors.

“I know this might sound weird, because we’re all the exact same age,” he says. “But when I look at Klaus, I see him as my little brother. I always have, even when we were kids. And now, it’s like I feel the need to care for him, y’know? Doesn’t matter that we’re adults now, I just want to protect him. It’s stupid, I know.”

“No, Diego, it’s not stupid at all,” Eudora says. Once they’re both seated, she reaches over and rubs his back reassuringly. “I think it’s really sweet of you to care so much. Not everyone is so lucky to get to reunite with their family after this long—it’s amazing that you’re embracing it.”

Diego smiles. “Thanks,” he says, then he leans over and kisses her with a smile. “I love you, y’know that?”

“I love you too,” she answers. She gives his shoulder one last squeeze before retracting her hand and starting the car. “Now how about that breakfast?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else here loves Dave? Comments are always loved and cherished, and as usual, you can catch me on tumblr [@lastoftherealblues](http://lastoftherealblues.tumblr.com/)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyon!!! I just want to say that the positive response to the first two chapters of this fic has absolutely blown me away. You guys are the literal best, and I'm so incredibly thankful for everyone who's read/commented/left kudos. I've read every single comment, and I want y'all to know that I'm not ignoring them, but I have a habit of waiting until I post the next chapter before I respond (I promise I will tho!). So again, thank you all because your enthusiasm is what makes every hour and weird google search worth it. Love you guys, and enjoy!!! xo

The next day, Diego wakes up feeling optimistic. No, not optimistic. This is full-blown elation. He gets to see Klaus again today, gets to relearn how to be his brother. He lies in bed thinking over the possibilities. There’s a million things he wants to do, but he should start with something simple. He could take Klaus out for dinner—he doesn’t know what Klaus likes to eat anymore, but now’s as good a time as any to find out. They could also go out for a drink, maybe catch up over some beer.

Diego scraps that thought immediately. He’s not enabling Klaus’ substance abuse. A movie might be nice, though, if there’s one that they both want to see. Diego smiles to himself. He’ll bet money that Klaus is still a big chicken about horror movies, but there’s a couple of cute rom-com type movies out right now. Klaus kind of strikes him as a rom-com guy.

It occurs to Diego that it might be considered weird to not know his own brother well enough to guess what food he likes or what movie he’d want to see. In fact, he barely knows Klaus at all anymore, which, while a harsh realization, really drives home for him why he has to bridge the rift between them.

A soft sigh from Eudora as she’s waking up draws Diego’s attention. She opens her eyes and blinks blearily, which Diego finds absolutely adorable. Her hair is in disarray, and she has creases on the side of her face from her pillow. She looks perfect.

Diego brushes a lock of hair back behind her ear. “Morning, gorgeous,” he says.

She grunts and rolls over to bury her face in Diego’s shoulder, throwing her arm over his chest. “Don’t make fun of me,” she mumbles.

Diego laughs and kisses the top of her hair “Baby, I mean it. I happen to think your bedhead looks very nice.”

Eudora raises her face to smile back at him. “I could say the same about you,” she says, running her fingers through the hair on top of his head to muss it up.

“Hey,” he protests, knocking her arm away, “What was that for?” He pats his hair to check the damage, and Eudora laughs.

“Stop, you’re ruining my hard work.” Her fingers thread through his and draw his hand away from his head. She kisses his knuckles. “It’s cute.”

Diego sighs contentedly. If he could, he’d stay like this all day, just lazing around with Eudora and enjoying her company in the quiet of their own home. They could watch TV and have breakfast in bed, maybe lunch and dinner too if they’re feeling really luxe. But unfortunately, their alarm goes off, reminding them that they do indeed have work today.

He plants a light kiss on Eudora’s lips before rolling out of bed. He stretches and cracks his neck, then turns and smiles at her. “Gonna take a quick shower, be out in a second.”

“Okay,” Eudora says with a smile. “I’m gonna lay here for five more minutes, then maybe I’ll put on a pot of coffee. I might even share if I’m feeling generous.”

Diego can’t help it, he swoops in and gives her one last kiss. Keeps his lips pressed to hers until, laughing, she shoves at his shoulders until he backs off and is just hovering over her.

“Stop trying to bribe me and go take your shower,” she demands playfully.

One more rebellious peck and Diego decides that yeah, it’s probably time to get going, otherwise he might make them late to work. And it’s not that everyone at the station doesn’t already know he and Eudora are together, but letting the others speculate on _exactly_ why they’re walking in late is never a good idea. They were once half an hour late because of traffic and Rodriguez had hollered crass jokes at them for weeks.

True to his word, Diego makes his shower a fast and efficient one. Normally, he’d want to take his time, because he has a secret love for long, blistering-hot showers. However, since he and Eudora had refused to get out of bed for so long, this isn’t a good morning to indulge in his temptations.

He does think more on Klaus, though. In the privacy of the bathroom, he gives himself a second to wonder how he’s gonna save his brother. Well no, save isn’t quite the right word for what he needs to do. He needs to _help_ Klaus—help him get into and stay in rehab. Help him find a better outlet for his issues, maybe get him some therapy. Get him away from wherever he’s living that’s facilitating his habits. He swears, if Klaus has been holed up in some crack house all these years, they’re going to have some serious words.

 _And what if Klaus doesn’t want your help?_ That’s a possibility that’s been tickling at the base of his skull since yesterday. Klaus had seemed amenable to Diego continuing to visit him, or at least visiting him one more time, but Diego knows Klaus. He knows how flighty he can be. There’s a good chance that by the time Diego gets back to him, he’ll have changed his mind and decided that he’d rather not accept Diego’s olive branch after all.

Diego shakes his head and wheels his mind back around, away from the pessimism. He can’t let himself think that way, or it’ll spoil his good mood. He has to trust that Klaus really does want to see him, otherwise he wouldn’t have looked so hopeful when Diego promised to come back, right? Right.

With that settled, Diego steps out of the shower and hurries to finish getting ready. The smell of coffee drifts out from the kitchen, spurring him on as he dresses and fixes his hair.

There’s a travel mug waiting for him when he gets out to the kitchen, and Eudora is leaning against the counter reading the paper. She looks up when he walks in.

“You ready?” she asks.

Diego takes a sip of coffee and nods. “If you are.”

“Cool.” Eudora folds up the newspaper and tosses Diego the car keys. “You drive today,” she says.

With an exaggerated sigh, Diego nods. “Fine, whatever you say.” He grins when she walks past him and smacks his ass.

“C’mon, rookie,” she says over her shoulder.

Diego grins after her, and he catches up as she’s opening the front door. He leans against the wall while she locks up and takes another sip of his coffee. “Y’know I’ve been at this as long as you have, right?” he says lazily.

She snorts. “Doesn’t matter, you’re still my little rookie.”

“Well, what if I think of you as my little rookie?” Diego teases. Eudora fixes him with her signature “oh, please” look and turns to walk to the car. Diego jogs after her and crowds her up against the car. “Baby, I’m serious,” he says.

She laughs as he leans in to kiss her. “Diego,” she scolds in faux-scandalization. “We are in public.” She smooths out a crease in his shirt. “Which you might be into, but I am not. And I doubt our neighbors are either.”

Diego cocks an eyebrow. “You sure about that?” He lowers his voice. “Who wouldn’t want to watch two unbearably gorgeous people get it on right outside the window?”

Eudora makes a disgusted noise and smacks his arm playfully. “Just get in the car.”

Diego obliges, though he knows that Eudora knows that he’s not letting this go. He’ll probably torment her with it for two, three days, then drop it for a while. And then maybe a month from now, he’ll bring it back up out of the blue just to see her face.

He decides to leave her alone for the car ride, though, but the glances she keeps giving him mean that she can see the mischief on his face. He’s never had a great poker face, which is sometimes great and really helpful when he goes nonverbal, but man, he wishes he could keep his scheming to himself.

“I can see your gears going,” Eudora says. “Stop thinking about doing it on the hood of the car.”

“What? It’s hard not to. You’re just too sexy.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she sings.

“Will it at least get you to hold my hand?” He puts as much sugar in his voice as he can and holds his hand out to her.

Her fingers thread through his, and she smiles over at him. “That I can do.”

~

When they arrive at the station, they enter by each other’s sides, not holding hands anymore because they agreed a long time ago to minimize the PDA, but walking close enough that their knuckles brush.

“Morning, Patch. Morning, Hargreeves.”

“Morning, Captain.” Diego salutes the Captain before taking a seat at his desk. He takes in the files waiting for him in a neat stack with a heavy sigh. He doesn’t like paperwork days. He’d rather be out in the field, taking on whatever dangers may come. And yeah, he knows _why_ they have to file everything, knew it would be part of the job when he signed up to be a detective, but it still sucks.

He picks up the file on top of the stack and thumbs through it. It’s the case from the other day—the young couple whose house was broken into. Eudora’s already filled out most of the information, probably did it the same night of the robbery, but there are still some sections that Diego needs to do.

With no small degree of reluctance, he gets to work on filling out the papers. The worst part is that no matter now much he hates it, he can’t bring himself to do a half-assed job. It’s like the need to make everything perfect is coded into his genetics, or maybe it’s because Dad trained him to be this way.

Either way, it takes him almost a full hour to finish up with that case, and by the time he gets up to file it away, he’s already counting down the minutes until he can get out of here.

“You okay?” Eudora calls from her desk.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just—” He gestures at the remaining stack of files on his desk. “Paperwork, y’know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Eudora has her own stack that she’s working through, and she pats it in a way that’s almost affectionate, almost disdainful, but mostly just resigned. “All part of the job, though, right?”

“Unfortunately.” He shrugs. “How ‘bout you? You doing alright over there?”

She makes a face. “What do you think? Nobody likes paperwork.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Diego teases, which earns him a paperclip flying at his face.

It whizzes by harmlessly, and he laughs. “Your aim is terrible.”

“Shut up. Not all of us can curve things with our mind.” She’s smiling, though, and Diego knows he’s cheered her up.

The rest of the work day passes in much the same way. Diego grumbles his way through a file, gets up to turn it in, returns to his desk. Eudora checks in on him, he checks in on her. They banter, they do more paperwork. Their only reprieve is their lunch break, which they spend at Eudora’s desk, watching funny videos on her phone.

By the end of the day, Diego is absolutely beat, but he’s also thrumming with excitement at being able to go back to the hospital and see Klaus. He’s out of his chair and packing up as soon as the clock hits five, cramming the remaining case files into his bag to work on later tonight.

“Whoa, Hargreeves, what’s the rush?” Rodriguez asks. “You and Patch got evening plans?” He waggles his eyebrows, and Diego flips him off.

“Fuck off, Rodriguez. You should mind your own business.” He slings his bag over his shoulder and leans his hip against his desk. “But if you’ve gotta know, I’m seeing my brother tonight. Gonna maybe catch a movie or something.”

Rodriguez’ eyebrows stop waggling, instead shooting up toward his hairline. “Yo, I thought you hated your brother.”

Diego shakes his head. “Different brother.” He doesn’t elaborate because as much as he likes Rodriguez, his friend is too much of a gossip to mention Klaus being a runaway.

“Jesus. You got any more family you care to mention?” he jokes.

Diego stares at him hard for a moment. Then, “I’ve got the two brothers you know about, two sisters, and two dead brothers.”

He straightens and walks away, and he can hear Rodriguez coughing in surprise behind him. “What the hell, Hargreeves?” he calls. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not. Hey, Diego! Come back here!”

Diego just grins to himself as he loads his stuff into the car. Eudora walks out of the station a few minutes after him, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Wow, you really did a number on Rodriguez,” she says.

“Serves him right for nosing about in my personal life.” He jogs around to the passenger side to open the door for Eudora. “Now he’ll be haunted by the question of whether or not I have two dead brothers forever.”

“You are such a prick.”

“Yeah, it’s one of my better qualities.”

Eudora rolls her eyes and gives him a kiss before he shuts the door and goes back to the driver’s side. He loves that she lets him deal with his messed up family in his own way, even if it’s technically tasteless to joke about how many siblings he’s lost at such young ages.

“Want me to just drop you off at home?” he asks as he pulls out of the lot.

“Yeah, sure. You think you’ll be home for dinner?”

“Probably not,” Diego says. “I was thinking Klaus and I might go get something together and then maybe see a movie if he wants to.”

Eudora beams over at him. “Aw, look at you, getting in your brotherly bonding.” She pats his arm. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, baby,” he says. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m hopeful that this’ll be good for me and Klaus.”

In all honesty, he doesn’t know how well this plan is gonna work. Last he saw Klaus, they weren’t even allowed to go to the movie theater. There’s no guarantee that in his time away from the Academy, Klaus has developed a taste for it the way Diego has.

But even if Klaus doesn’t want to see a movie, there’re plenty of other things to do around the city, so Diego’s confident that there’s at least some way to connect with Klaus, even if it’s just sitting on a park bench and chatting.

When they get home, Diego runs inside with Eudora for a minute to drop off his work things and change into something more casual. Klaus would probably laugh at him if he were to show up at the hospital in a tie while he’s off-duty.

He opts for a loose pair of black jeans and a dark t-shirt. He also swaps out his loafers for some sneakers and shrugs on a hoodie to complete the look. It’s much more his style than what he has to wear for work. The only thing he keeps is the belt with all of his knives. Better safe than sorry, and his badge usually keeps public places from throwing a fit about weapons in the building.

He thinks maybe he should bring Klaus something to change into, since all he has is…whatever it is he was picked up in. But looking at his closet, Diego’s not sure what he has that Klaus would want to or be able to wear. They’re about the same height, so length won’t be a problem, but Diego is much broader, and there’s no his pants will stay on Klaus’ thin hips without a belt.

He settles on his slimmest pair of jeans and a tank-top, and he grabs a pair of boxers too for good measure. No way in hell is he letting Klaus go commando in his pants. He guesses Klaus probably has his own shoes, but he packs some socks in case those are lacking.

Eudora’s waiting in the living room to see him off. Before he goes, he lets her pull him into a gentle embrace, and they take a quiet moment to simply stand there holding each other. Her hair smells good—sweet like oranges and honey—and her hand feels nice where she’s rubbing circles low on his back.

“You gonna be okay?” she murmurs, and god does she know him well. He hasn’t said it, but the prospect of having to reconnect with Klaus after all these years is, for all he’s looking forward to it, a seriously daunting task. It’s all just so complicated. They’re strangers that are expected to know each other, but they don’t, and it’s terrifying. At any point, they could have another fight like the one they had yesterday morning, which opens the potential for another bitter, years-long schism with no promise of reconciliation.

Diego exhales the tension in his shoulders and rests his chin on top of Eudora’s head. He’s catastrophizing and he knows it. If he goes in thinking like this, he’ll end up fulfilling his worst-case-scenarios, and what good does that do anyone?

“I’m good,” he tells her. “Just scared of messing up with Klaus again.”

Eudora hums. “Want my advice?” Diego nods, trusting that she can feel the motion. “I think your best bet is to just not force anything.” Saying that, she pulls away and looks deep into Diego’s eyes. “I understand that you want your old relationship back, but maybe you have to treat this like a new relationship. And yes,” she catches the look on his face, “before you start, I know you two grew up together, but like you’ve been saying, it’s been a long time. You’ve changed a lot in just the last couple of years, since we’ve been together. No way you’re the same kid you were at sixteen, and no way he is either. So start from the bottom. You have to know each other before you can get back to where you were.”

As much as Diego wishes otherwise, she’s right. He and Klaus don’t have the foundation to be brothers anymore, at least not yet. Tonight will probably start off awkward and uncomfortable and nothing like the happy scenarios Diego’s had playing out in his head all day. But maybe by the end, they can be friends.

“Thanks.” He mumbles the single word because even with how much he’s changed over the years, he still hates admitting to being wrong and having to hear sense from someone else. It reminds him too much of being proven wrong by Luther.

Eudora gets him, though, having lived with him for two years now, so she just pats his arm and says, “You’re welcome. Now go and get your brother, and don’t come home until you feel like you’re friends with him.”

With a grin, Diego nods and heads for the front door. “I love you,” he calls as he’s closing the door behind him.

“Love you too, baby.” She blows him a kiss, which he mimes catching and pressing to his heart. Then he shuts the door and half jogs to the car.

The drive to the hospital sets his nerves alight once more, now that he’s alone with his racing thoughts, but Eudora’s advice is helpful enough that he can quickly shoot down most of the negative images he comes up with. He’s gonna have a good time if it kills him.

He’s mostly calm when he walks into the lobby of the hospital, even feeling charitable enough to give the receptionist—a different one from yesterday—a friendly little wave before hitting the stairwell. It feels good to be excited about seeing someone in his family.

With no threats of death or urgent questions for Klaus, ascending as fast as he can isn’t Diego’s priority this time, but he takes the steps two at a time anyway, just because he can. His pride may keep him from saying so outright, but he really has missed Klaus and he doesn’t need an excuse to want to get to him as fast as he can.

By the time he gets to the sixth floor, he’s back to practically running to Klaus’ room. It must look ridiculous, a grown man acting like a little kid on Christmas, but who cares? Diego thinks he deserves to act excited about this.

When he arrives at Klaus’ room, he manages to school himself into giving off more of a happy-to-see-you vibe and less of an about-to-grab-onto-you-and-never-let-go one, and takes a steadying breath. _Okay, Diego, be cool. Everything’s going to be fine. Just let things happen as they happen._ He opens the door.

The room is empty.

He blinks a couple times. Surely he didn’t walk into the wrong room, right? He backpedals to recheck the number and the clipboard outside. Room 649. Klaus Hargreeves. Yeah, this is the right room. Then why—?

Oh shit. And Diego understands what’s going on here. The mussed sheets, hanging wires, empty bed—Klaus has run away again.

He flexes his hand, curling and uncurling his fist over and over again, as his temper flares. Klaus can never make things easy, can he? God, it’s just like him to act like he wants to see Diego one day and then chicken out and disappear the very next. To run off at the first sign of responsibility.

But would even Klaus rip out his own IVs and leave without telling anyone, not even a nurse? Without leaving a hastily scrawled note to let Diego and his paranoia know that he hasn’t been kidnapped?

So the irritation spikes into panic, and Diego runs from the room. Back through the halls and down the stairs and to the reception desk.

“Klaus Hargreeves,” he pants. “Did he check out?”

“Um.” The receptionist seems surprised by Diego’s urgency, but he wakes his monitor and begins typing. While this is happening, Diego fidgets with the strings on his bag impatiently. Not knowing where Klaus is has him all twisted up inside just like when they were sixteen. Of course, Klaus is an adult now and can do what he wants, but that doesn’t mean Diego isn’t worried. How can he not be, with Klaus’ track record?

The receptionists voice snaps him out of his head. “No, Klaus Hargreeves is still here.”

“Fuck. Thanks, man.”

“You’re welcome?”

Diego doesn’t stick around to explain himself. Klaus could be practically anywhere right now, depending on how long ago he left. Diego’s back in his car within the minute, already compiling a mental list of where Klaus is likely to have gone. He’s feeling gradually calmer, though, as his rational brain catches up with him and he’s able to formulate a search plan.

Anywhere within a five block radius of the Academy is out, obviously. Klaus always used to joke about that specific distance being as close as he’d ever get to home once he got out—or Diego had thought he was joking at the time. They’d been fifteen when he said it, and in retrospect, it’s pretty clear that he’d for once been dead serious.

There’s a battered city map in the glove, which Diego takes out and begins making light marks on. He crosses out the radius around the Academy, crosses out any block where they’d ever had a mission, and any block within sight of a police station.

There are a few places that Diego circles as the most likely spots for Klaus to gravitate towards, like some of the seedier clubs in the area and, more optimistically, the restaurants that used to be Klaus’ favorites.

He briefly considers calling Eudora to ask for her help, or reporting Klaus as missing, but no, at this point, that’s most definitely overkill. For all Diego knows, Klaus could’ve simply gotten tired of lying around waiting for Diego to show up and decided to just leave and get something to eat. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done something like that, and it’s fairly on-brand for him. Klaus is nothing if not impulsive.

Diego commits the map and his markings to memory and folds it back into the glove. After turning on his radio to keep an ear out for, say, any reports of a strange man wandering around in a hospital gown, he peels out of the lot and begins his hunt for Klaus.

He starts with the restaurants. A little pub on 12th, a breakfast place on 7th, that old place Griddy’s Doughnuts. He has no pictures of Klaus to show, but he gives each place his description. About six feet tall, skinny, dark curls, green eyes, lots of eyeliner, wearing either a hospital gown or a see-through crop top and black pants?

Nobody’s seen him, though, so Diego just leaves his number and asks them to call him if Klaus turns up. Each time this happens, Diego feels a little more hopeless. Hopeless that he’s not going to find Klaus. Or that he will find Klaus. More the latter because once he runs out of restaurants and bars to check, his options are grim.

As a detective, he’s well aware of the more popular spots among the local junkies, and he’s never seen Klaus there, but that doesn’t mean today won’t be different. There are also plenty of back alleys for Klaus to disappear down and get caught up in some sordid business, a thought that claws at Diego’s chest because Klaus is too sweet and soft to be getting involved in criminal activity just for a little bag of drugs.

The one hope that Diego clings to is the possibility that Klaus has simply gone home. Diego doesn’t know where he lives—probably some tiny little apartment downtown—but just maybe, instead of making straight for the nearest drug house, he’s decided to just go back to his own place to smoke some weed in private. Diego wouldn’t blame him for that.

Unfortunately, it’s as much fantasy as it is hope, perhaps more so, and Diego won’t be counting on it. If, by the end of the night, he hasn’t found Klaus in any public places, he might entertain the notion. But until he’s combed the city thoroughly, he’d rather act with his worst-case scenarios in mind.

The sun has already set as he walks into the first bar he thinks Klaus might be holed up in. Inside is dark and musky, alive with the stench of booze and sex and sweat. The loud music pulses through the room, sounding as gritty and dirty as the bar itself. In the corners, couples are making out and crawling all over each other, groups are passing joints around, as well as sharing harder stuff. Diego definitely spots a kid kneeling on the ground, doing lines of coke off a chair. Several people are already wasted and passed out at the bar. It’s exactly the kind of place where Klaus would end up.

Diego parks himself at the bar between two drunk people, leaning on his forearms and waiting for the bartender to notice him. When she does, she marches over, refreshing in her business-like demeanor that clashes harshly with the debauchery of everything else.

“What’ll it be?” she asks. Not rude, but not particularly friendly either.

“I’m here to ask about someone, actually,” Diego says. “He’s about this tall, kinda scrawny, dark hair, skimpy clothes. Probably wearing a lot of eyeliner?”

The bartender laughs in his face. “Son, I can smell a cop a mile away, and I ain’t no snitch. You’ll have to get a warrant if you want—”

“He’s my brother,” Diego interrupts. “I’m not here to arrest anyone, see?” He holds his jacket open. “No badge, no gun. I just don’t want anything to happen to him.”

For a long moment, the bartender eyes him up and down, but just when Diego thinks she might relent, she shakes her head. “Can’t help you, kid. Now if you’re not gonna buy anything, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

Diego’s fists tighten, and he resists the urge to grab her and shake her until she tells him what she knows. Because she’s seen Klaus tonight, he saw it in her eyes before she decided she couldn’t trust him. It makes him want to scream to have finally found a lead, only to be shut down by a crabby barkeep, and that makes him want to lash out. He knows, though, that intimidation is wrong. Maybe three years ago, fresh on the force, he’d have gotten physical, but Eudora’s basically fixed his anger issues by now.

He unclenches his fists. “Fine. But if my brother turns up dead in the morning, I’ll be remembering your face.”

With that, he turns and stalks out of the bar, shoving past a small crew of people dancing near the doorway. The cursing he gets from them is quickly shut out by the door slamming shut behind him.

He leans heavily against the brick wall of the building, fighting the shaking in his muscles. He wants to punch something, kick something, throw his knives, scream, cry. He wants to know where Klaus is. Drawing in unsteady breaths, he closes his eyes and tries to think. Where would Klaus have gone after leaving the bar? Another bar? No, Klaus always liked to drink in one place if he could. Could he have gone home with someone? That seems the most likely situation, given Diego’s—admittedly limited—knowledge of his early sexual habits. But it’s so hard to know when he barely knows Klaus anymore.

Fuck it, he’s going home. If Klaus doesn’t want to be found, that’s his issue, not Diego’s. This whole night is getting to Diego, fueling years of simmering anger at Klaus. Because he became a junkie, because he ran away, because he almost died right in from of Diego, because he made Diego think they might be able to fix their relationship, and because he’s now gone back on that and crushed Diego’s spirits.

So yeah, Diego’s kind of pissed.

He’s halfway back to his car when a sound catches his attention. He stops. It sounded like a human voice, and it sounded distressed.

Never one to run from danger or abandon someone in trouble, Diego turns around to seek out the source of the noise. He somewhat regrets leaving his badge and gun in his car. The decision hadn’t even helped him in the bar, and how he’s without that extra cushion of protection. His knives will serve him well, though, better even, given his powers.

He pulls one out and holds it down by his side as he walks back toward the voice. The sound hasn’t come again, so he peers down each alley he passes, searches for who cried out.

Then the voice comes again, now quite clearly calling out for help, and Diego breaks into a run. As he reaches the alley he knows he needs to search, the voice falls silent. Eerily so.

“Hello?” Diego calls. No answer. “Is there anyone down there? I’m police, I’m here to help you.” Nothing moves in the darkness, but Diego knows what he heard, so he slowly walks forward, senses alert, knife at the ready.

A cat darts out from under a dumpster and startles him. A mouse skitters past his foot. A car zips past behind him. But there’s no sign of the person who cried out for help.

Then he sees the form slumped against the wall, alone. He hurries over to check on them, but as he draws closer—“Shit, Klaus.” Diego drops to his knees next to his brother, sheathing his knife, and shakes Klaus’ shoulders. “Klaus, man, are you okay?”

Klaus groans, a pitiful little sound from high in his throat, and opens his eyes. “Diego?” he slurs.

“Yeah.” Diego glances down at the empty pill bottle in one of Klaus’ hands and the half-empty bottle of whiskey in the other. “Did you take all that?” he asks. “Hey—” he slaps Klaus’ cheek lightly. “—Look at me. What was in the bottle?”

“Shhhh, ‘m sleepy.”

Diego shakes Klaus harder as his eyelids slide closed, fluttering slightly. “Klaus, no, don’t go to sleep, don’t—” Klaus’ head lolls forward and he’s silent. “Klaus. _Klaus._ ” There’s no response, except for Klaus’ ragged breathing that is far too shallow to be anything but bad.

With shaking hands, Diego fumbles for his phone and dials 911. If he thought he could handle Klaus on his own, he would, but Klaus’ breathing is slow and growing more irregular with every second, and Diego’s not stupid enough to believe that the combination of pills and alcohol won’t kill Klaus if he doesn’t get medical attention.

Dispatch picks up, and Diego quickly gives them the information they need. His name, where he is, why he’s called, who they need to send immediately. It’s a losing battle against his goddamn stutter, but for Klaus’ sake, he forces the words out before breaking down in tears.

Why is this happening to him? He holds Klaus’ limp form against him and cries, muffling his sobs in his brother’s sweaty curls, which he strokes just to do _something_ besides rock back and forth in a feeble attempt to comfort both Klaus and himself. Not that Klaus is probably able to feel any of it, since he’s dying. Again.

Two days. That’s all it took for him to OD for a second time, and Diego wonders if it’s his fault. Was seeing him again too much for Klaus? Is he just a painful reminder of the Umbrella Academy and all the trauma that came with it?

Diego can feel Klaus’ pulse slowing, and he shakes him a little. “K-Klaus, man, c’mon, you gotta s-stay with me.” The sounds of an ambulance are coming closer. They’ll be here in minutes. He holds Klaus tighter. “Just a f-few more minutes, please, please, please. You’re not gonna die. You’re n-not—” His voice breaks and he lets out a hopeless sob. He hates this. It isn’t fair. Not to him, not to Klaus, not to anyone.

“Mr. Hargreeves, is that you down there?” The voice of a paramedic cuts through Diego’s haze.

“Y-yes, it’s m-m-me,” he calls back. There’s the sound of shoes on loose asphalt, and then paramedics are there, lifting Klaus from his arms, and he doesn’t want to let go, though he knows he has to if Klaus is going to live.

So he lets go.

Two of the paramedics rush Klaus to the ambulance, while the third helps Diego to his feet. “C’mon, let's go,” he says gently, and Diego vaguely recognizes him as the man who’d been visiting Klaus yesterday. Dave was his name. “You wanna ride in the ambulance?”

Diego nods, and Dave leads him to the back doors hanging open.

He feels dull. He’s aware of the ambulance doors closing and the engine starting, and he’s aware of the paramedics doing what they can for Klaus, and he’s aware that he’s crying, and aware that he’s clutching Klaus’ hand. But it’s all a jumble in his head, all the emotions clashing and cancelling each other out until he’s left only with numb resignation.

Apparently, though, Klaus’ situation is less dire than the other night because after only a few minutes, the paramedics all sit back at once with relieved sighs, except for Dave, who comes and sits across from Diego.

“Hey, you’re Diego, right? Klaus’ brother?” he says. He has a soothing voice, soft and slightly deep. It makes Diego think his brother’s probably in good hands.

Diego doesn’t trust himself to speak without stuttering, so he just nods, keeping his eyes glued to the floor.

Dave acknowledges his nod with a pat on the knee. “I’m Dave. Dunno if you remember me. I, uh. I guess this is tough for you,” he says. He leans back and folds his arms across his chest, clears his throat. “I know this won’t really make you feel better, but we’ve picked him up a couple times before and he always pulls through.”

Diego’s chest clenches. Yeah, it doesn’t make him feel better that Klaus does this often enough for Dave to have picked him up multiple times. How could it? No one wants to hear that their brother OD’s on the regular. But he gets why Dave brought it up because at least Klaus has a record of surviving his drug overdoses.

“This isn’t as b-bad as the other night, right?” Diego asks. He glances up.

Dave hesitates. “Yes and no,” he says. “It’s better in the sense that we got to him faster, thanks to you. We already gave him as much flumazenil as we could, so he won’t die. Last time he was a lot further gone, and we were lucky that the naloxone still worked. But…” Dave sighs and scratches the back of his neck. “Sorry, I’m trying to put this delicately, but the effects of mixing alcohol with Ativan are bad—really, really bad. And the amount of both that he took tonight are more potent than the amount of heroin he took the other night. He’s lucky that you found him when you did.”

It’s not what Diego wanted to hear, and he can see by the way Dave’s face changes that he’s done a bad job at hiding his despair. “No, Dave—” Diego groans. It’s not Dave’s fault that Klaus makes stupid decisions. “I’m glad you told me. I’m just—I don’t know how to deal with this. Me and Klaus… we’re not close, and it’s been a while since I saw him, so for—for this,” he gestures over at Klaus, passed out with an oxygen mask on his face, “to be how we reconnect…” He doesn’t have the words to tell Dave what he’s feeling.

But Dave nods like he understands. “I know,” he says. “He’s gonna be okay, though. I promise we’re gonna try to help him. And forgive me if this is too bold, but I know that having you here now will do wonders. You don’t know how many people we pick up after overdoses. A lot of them are like Klaus: they’re addicted and don’t know how to stop, and all we can do is try to save them over and over again. It’s kind of a depressing cycle, but there’s always the hope that each resuscitation will give them another chance at recovery. I don’t think Klaus is lost to that, though.” Dave stares over at Klaus with a strange look in his eyes. “He has people who love him, and if I’ve learned anything in this line of work, it’s that sometimes that’s all people like Klaus need to heal. It won’t happen immediately, but I believe that with you back in his life, he might just stand a chance at genuine recovery.”

Diego’s absolutely speechless, and for once, it’s not because of his stutter. He’s never heard so many kind words about anyone in his family from one person, and not one bit of it sounds contrived. Dave sounds like he actually believes his own faith in Klaus. And Diego. He knows jack shit about their family, yet it’s clear that for him, it wouldn’t make a difference either way. Diego wants to call it naïve, but that’s not right. It’s the conscious decision to believe in people.

It’s not just that, though. It’s that Dave seems to genuinely care about Klaus. Maybe this is a small thing, but not once has he referred to Klaus a junkie. Even Diego can’t say he's innocent of reducing Klaus to that word, so bitter in its utterance, spat like stale beer on the ground. But Dave is all gentle, humanizing words when he talks about Klaus. And maybe he’s like this with everyone, but Diego can’t help but think that Diego isn’t the only one in this ambulance hellbent on helping Klaus.

Diego’s wants to ask Dave how he came to care so much about Klaus, but as he’s opening his mouth, the ambulance stops and Dave leaps to his feet to help get Klaus out and into the hospital, sparing Diego only a brief smile of reassurance before hurrying off and leaving Diego to follow.

Once he’s sure that his legs, shaky from adrenaline, will actually support him, Diego makes his way after Dave and the other paramedics. He’s not yet sure if they’ll be taking Klaus to the ICU or putting him straight in his own room. He could probably ask, but it’s likely Dave will come and fill him in as soon as he can, so he opts for standing in the lobby and waiting.

Sure enough, Dave returns about twenty minutes later, looking tired but optimistic, and hails Diego with a little wave. “We put him back in his room,” he says. “I can take you up to him if you’d like.”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

Dave nods and beckons Diego to follow him to the elevators. They wait for the elevator in silence, but once the door close, Dave speaks up. “He’s already awake,” he says. “Just to give you a heads up. He’s still a little out of it, but he’s cracked at least two jokes since he woke up, so he’s doing fine.”

Diego nods. “Great.” It is not great. This means Diego doesn’t have time to figure out what exactly it is he wants to say to Klaus. There’s several different conversations he’d like to have, and they’re all competing for Diego’s attention. Why did Klaus leave the hospital and not wait for Diego like they’d agreed? Why did he go and OD again? Is he okay? Does he need help? Is he doing this for attention? What the hell is his problem anyway? Would he like to come stay with Diego and Eudora?

The questions are still whipping around Diego’s brain when Dave stops at the same room as before and knocks. “Klaus, it’s me, Dave. I have Diego with me.” Without waiting for an answer, Dave opens the door and leads the way in.

“Davey!” Klaus gushes weakly upon seeing his paramedic’s face. “You’re back. And you brought Diego!”

Klaus’ cheerfulness throws Diego off for a second, until he catches Klaus’ eye and good god, it could not be more obvious that this is an act. Granted, it’s a pretty good act that could probably fool most people, but Diego has seen that look on Klaus’ face before. There’s an intense sorrow behind his fragile smile, and his expression is teetering just a hair away from collapsing altogether. It hurts Diego to see it again.

But Klaus has a lot of explaining to do, and he won’t be seeing an ounce of pity from Diego until he provides some answers—and they better be damn good ones too for all he’s put Diego through in the past three days.

So rather than do what he really wants to do, which is to burst into tears and blubber sappy words about how badly Klaus scared him, Diego storms over to the bed and jams a finger hard into Klaus’ bony chest. He digs in too, not really caring that he might leave a bruise in the center of his sternum.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snarls, getting close enough to Klaus’ face to smell the putrid odor of alcohol on his brother’s breath. He ignores Dave’s alarmed expression at the less-than-friendly greeting. “You better explain yourself right now, or I’m gonna string you up and use you as target practice.”

Klaus giggles weakly. “Well, it’s a long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that may not have gone in the direction y'all were expecting, and I apologize for any pain I may have inflicted upon anyone, but it's all for a good cause, I swear! I do seriously think that my university thinks I'm a drug addict, but oh well. Sometimes it's just you and your twenty open tabs about mixing Ativan and alcohol, and there's nothing you can do about it. Anyway, can y'all guess who it was that Diego heard calling for help? Next chapter will be from that character's POV ;) Comments and kudos are loved and cherished, and you can catch me on tumblr [@lastoftherealblues](http://lastoftherealblues.tumblr.com/)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows the time-frame of Ch. 1-3, from (as you all correctly guessed) Ben's POV! You'll see some repetition, but I tried to abridge the scenes we've already been over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my loves! I'm so sorry that this update has taken so long. The end of the semester lowkey wrecked my ass, and then I got a little carried away here. I hope the length of this one makes it up to y'all (it's long. Like really long). Again, I'm overwhelmed by all the love I've received for this fic, so thank you to everyone who reads, leaves kudos, and/or comments. You are all the reason I write. So, without further ado, here's chapter 4. Enjoy!

“See you, bro.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Diego and his girlfriend go then, waving cheerfully as they’re leaving. Ben stays right where he is, perched on Klaus’ windowsill, until the door clicks shut and their footsteps recede. He stays there even as Klaus’ tiny, mostly fake smile drops and he looks at Ben with exhausted eyes, waiting for the lecture that he knows is coming.

“Alright, what’d you want to talk about?” he asks. Ben maintains his stony silence, opting to fix Klaus with a stare that says so much more than he’s able to voice.

A part of him is furious with Klaus—he’d told him over and over again never to try heroin, for many reasons. It’s dangerous, needles are dangerous, it’s potent, and it’s addictive, especially for someone like Klaus. But Klaus hadn’t listened to him, never does, and now he’s gone too far and put himself in the hospital. Again.

Another, much larger part of Ben is sad, though, because no matter how obnoxious and downright idiotic Klaus can be, he’s still his brother, and watching his struggle with addiction never gets any easier. Because each new way that Klaus overdoses is another knife in Ben’s heart and another chip in their relationship.

Ever since Klaus started using drugs to dull his powers, Ben has struggled to be around him. When Ben was alive, Klaus’ addictions had driven a pretty decent wedge between them, souring the bond they’d shared as kids. There’d just been less to talk about—less Klaus to talk to. It came to a point where they only saw each other when Ben came to Klaus’ room after a particularly bad nightmare or when Klaus needed a favor.

And then Klaus had run away, and that was that. No more dealing with sneaking a drugged up Klaus into the house and dumping him in his bed to sleep it off, or pretending not to smell the alcohol on Klaus’ breath when he stumbled down to breakfast ten minutes late. And no more best friend to confide in.

Ironically, Ben dying had actually fixed their relationship, at least a little bit. With few options for people to talk to, Ben has kind of been forced to learn to put up with Klaus’ problems. He can’t just get up, walk away, and hang out with a different sibling anymore, no matter how much Klaus pisses him off. And on the other side of the coin, Klaus can’t hide from Ben when he doesn’t want to be lectured, because for some strange reason that neither of them can explain, no amount of drugs prevents Klaus from being able to see Ben.

So now here they are.

“Are you alright?” Ben finally asks, once he’s decided that his silence has made Klaus sufficiently squirmy. “You’re acting weird.”

“What? I’m fine, I’m not acting weird. You’re acting weird.”

Ben sighs. Oh well. Guess that means he’s cutting straight to the chase. “Okay, look, you need to cut this out. Now.” He tries to keep his voice as even as he can, but he knows his annoyance is clear.

That’s doesn’t stop Klaus from playing dumb, of course. “Cut what out?” he says. “Reconnecting with Diego? I thought you’d be happy about that.” he gives Ben a cheeky grin.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Ben crosses his arms. “I’m talking about your overdosing addiction. You have to stop.”

Klaus scoffs. “Well, _you_ have to stop trying to micromanage my life. And I don’t have an ‘overdosing addiction.’ That’s not even a thing.”

When Ben rolls his eyes, it’s almost involuntary. At this point, he might as well classify it as a reflex reaction to some of the shit Klaus says. “Again, you know what I meant. You get a kick out of—well, I don’t know why you like doing this so much, and psychoanalyzing your every move is way above my paygrade, but my point is, maybe instead of putting yourself in debt with hospital bills, you should try putting yourself in debt with rehab bills.”

“Ben, Ben, Ben.” Klaus shakes his head. “You can’t get high when you’re in rehab. Well, actually—” he smirks. “If you’re lucky, you might be able to convince someone to get you some really weak weed in exchange for like a blowjob or something. But that’s it.”

“Oh for god’s—” Ben groans. “Jesus, I wish you wouldn’t say that shit. Look, I’m just saying, if you’re gonna rack up debt like it’s your job, it might as well be worth your time.”

“It is worth my time, though,” Klaus argues.

“Oh, really? Please do explain because I’d love to hear how exactly this,” Ben indicates the hospital room and all the machines that Klaus is hooked up to, “is worth your time.”

Of course, this is when Klaus decides to clam up and go quiet. “Forget I said anything. You’ll just start lecturing me.”

Ben gapes. He can’t believe Klaus would think that of him. Okay, so he gives Klaus a hard time about basically everything—so what? He’s never done that when something is really important to Klaus, and he can always tell what those things are. He didn’t lecture Klaus when he bought those ridiculous pants that were, frankly put, way beyond his budget, because those were the first things that had put a genuine smile in Klaus’ eyes in years. And he didn’t lecture Klaus for walking out on the best man to ever happen to him because he knew that Klaus was scared of falling in love and one day having his heart broken. He didn’t even lecture Klaus for starting that barfight a couple weeks ago because honestly, that guy had it coming for calling Allison a “cheap, talentless tramp that only got cast for her tits.” And he won’t lecture Klaus now because all he has to do to know that this is another of those important moments is look at Klaus’ closed off body language and the way he can’t quite meet Ben’s eyes in his shame.

Klaus never looks ashamed.

“Klaus—” Ben sighs and crosses the room to sit in the chair where Diego had spent last night and where Dave, and then Diego once more, had just been. “I’m not going to lecture you, I swear. No matter what you say. Klaus, hey,” he leans forward to get Klaus to look at him. “I’m serious. Cross my heart and hope to die?”

Thank god, that gets a laugh out of Klaus. “Okay, Ben. You win this time. It’s… it’s worth my time because I get to see Dave.”

A beat. “Dave. You overdose on drugs. Because it means you get to see Dave.” Ben knows he promised Klaus he wouldn’t lecture, but he’s really struggling to keep that promise right now.

Klaus definitely sees that conflict in Ben’s expression. “You think I’m being stupid,” he accuses. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, come on, Klaus, that’s not fair. You have to admit it doesn’t sound great.”

“Christ, Ben.” Klaus throws his hands up in frustration. “What don’t you understand here, hm? I’m _dying_ to know.”

Ben ignores the jab. “Well, for one, what’s so special about Dave? He’s literally just a paramedic who happens to always be on shift when you decide to OD, and who sometimes comes and checks on you after you wake up.”

“Exactly!” Klaus shouts. “He checks on me. That’s special. None of the others come and check on me, and I guarantee Dave’s not the only one who’s seen me more than once. Check and mate, bitch.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, that is not ‘check and mate, bitch,’” Ben says. “You answered one question. So fine, Dave’s special. I’ll bite. Why not ask him out on a date? That’s what normal people do when they like someone and want to see them.”

“Oh, yeah, of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Klaus rolls his eyes. “Use your brain, Ben, where would I take him out on a date? The soup kitchen? I’m fucking homeless, I can’t afford a nice evening out with the guy I like.”

“Right. And that’s exactly why you can afford this hospital stay,” Ben says sarcastically with a pointed look. Which is a mistake.

“Y’know what? You’re right, I can’t afford it.”

Ben finds himself dumbstruck as Klaus, with unnerving calmness, starts methodically removing his IVs and unhooking himself from all the machines. After a second, Ben gathers his wits. “Klaus, what are you—”

“I’m getting out of here,” Klaus snaps. “Since I can’t afford to stay.” He smiles sweetly at Ben. “Now turn around unless you want to see me naked.”

Ben barely manages to avert his eyes before Klaus loses his hospital gown. “Klaus, this is not what I meant.”

“Y’know, you say that a lot—hey, have you seen my clothes?—oh, wait, found them.”

A few seconds later, Ben can hear Klaus struggling into his too-tight clothes. He waits to turn back around at the sound of Klaus’ necklaces jangling and crosses his arms. “Diego’s gonna freak out when he comes back tomorrow and finds you gone,” he says.

Klaus stops and looks up from tying his shoes. “He’s not coming back,” he says. “He just said that to be nice.”

Somehow, Ben doubts that. Diego may like to alter the truth if he thinks it’ll make people feel better, but he’s never been one for making empty promises. Ben can see, though, that he’s not going to win this one, so he doesn’t correct Klaus. “Alright, fine,” he says instead. “Leave if that’s what you want to do. But where are you gonna go?”

“Dunno yet, but I’ll figure it out.” Klaus stands and shrugs his coat on. He looks at Ben. “Are you coming with me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Klaus grins broadly. “Now, that’s the cheer I like to hear. C’mon.” Klaus cracks the door open and peeks out. “Okay, coast is clear, let’s go.”

Ben follows behind Klaus as he runs through the halls. “You do know that you don’t have to sneak about, right? You’re allowed to just walk out.”

Klaus turns around and glares at him. “It’s the principle of the thing. Besides, Dave might be around, and he _will_ stop me.”

 _Which might be a good indication that you should stay_. Ben keeps it to himself, though. Klaus would definitely take that as having his affection for Dave used against him, and if Ben wants even the slightest chance of getting Klaus to listen to anything he says, he can’t be doing anything to antagonize him. It’s honestly like dealing with a small, petulant child, which Ben also does not say because again, Klaus is like a small, petulant child.

(Un)fortunately, no one gives Klaus any trouble as he walks out the front doors and away from the hospital, and Ben has to accept that he’s facing another day of Klaus’ bullshit. The hospital will find out that he’s gone, yes, but they’re not gonna track him down—he’s an adult and free to disregard medical advice as he pleases.

Ben wishes they would track him down, though. At least then someone would care what he gets up to. Someone besides Ben. Someone who can physically restrain Klaus from destroying his own life. Yeah, that’d be nice. All Ben can do is tail him around and try futilely to persuade him to just please put away the drugs and call it a night.

“So what should I buy first?” Klaus asks, as soon as he decides they’re far enough from the hospital. “More heroin? Maybe some cocaine?—That’s always a treat. Weed? Ooh, acid could be fun too. Or some speed. How about molly—or hog!” He claps his hands in delight, and Ben feels sick.

“Klaus…”

“Right, sorry. Forgot you don’t like knowing what I’m doing. That’s fine, I can be discreet.” Klaus turns and waltzes off down the street, singing over his shoulder, “I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come rescue me!”

Ben watches as Klaus turns down an alley, waving a hand in salute. He sighs. He’d go supervise, but Klaus hasn’t had any actual money on him for days, and Ben knows that he’ll be paying for his high in the _other way_. And as much as he loves and wants to protect Klaus, he cannot watch that happen.

He instead drops down on the curb and scrubs his face in exhaustion. Last night had been terrible. An absolute disaster.

~

YESTERDAY

“Hey! Love!” Klaus flags down a figure sitting hunched over on a box, just inside the shade of an alley. Ben follows as Klaus approaches the man. “Love, I haven’t seen you in ages—where’ve you been? Getting chummy with the trust fund kids?”

Love, a man who looks at least a decade older than Klaus, glances up at the playful greeting. He’s got pasty skin, dark eyes, and dyed black hair, and Ben immediately remembers why he doesn’t like him. He looks harmless enough at first, but he’d gotten Klaus hooked on some pretty hard stuff, and Ben can hardly stand the sight of him.

“Hey there, Klaus!” Love smiles warmly and accepts a hug and a peck on the cheek as Klaus sidles into his personal space and right onto his lap. “It’s great to see you again! Sorry to disappoint, but I have not been able to convert any more rich kids lately. No, I’ve actually been in prison.”

Klaus laughs. “What? No kidding! Christ, that’s a hard hand. I hope that doesn’t mean you’re out of stock. Some of these other dealers around here—Jesus, the stuff they try to give me is just disgusting. And y’know,” he continues, patting Love’s stubbly cheek, “You may not be the prettiest face around here, but I almost trust you.”

Love grins slyly and runs a hand from Klaus’ knee up the outside of his thigh. “Is that so? You trust me?”

Klaus jumps and lets out a scandalized gasp when Love gives his ass a hard squeeze. “Love!” he chastises. “I said _almost_ , you dirty old man.” He laughs. “Now get your hands off the goods, unless that’s how you want me to pay.”

That gets a snicker out of Love. “Nah, you know that’s not how I roll. This is a cash only business. Now, what is it you want?”

“Hmm.” Klaus taps his chin. “I’m kind of feeling like some smack could do me good.”

“Klaus,” Ben scolds. “Please don’t. You know I hate heroin.”

“You hate everything I do,” Klaus snaps.

“What?”

“Nothing, Love.” Klaus pets Love’s hair affectionately. “Nothing at all. Just talking to one of my imaginary friends. I’m crazy, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Love and Klaus meet each other’s eyes and laugh. “Okay, how much do you want?”

“Oh, I dunno—is five bags too ambitious? I was thinking four, but y’know, that’s an unlucky number.” As he says this, Klaus winks at Ben. Ben rolls his eyes—he’s heard that joke way too many times, and it honestly makes him kind of sad. Because no matter how much Klaus insists that he’s referring to the Chinese superstition around the number four, Ben knows he’s really talking about himself.

Love shakes his head. “You’re a weird guy, Klaus, but sure, I can give you five. It’s gonna cost you, though, you know that.”

With a sigh, Klaus starts fishing around in his pockets. “I know, I know. How much?”

Love seems to consider this. “Well, since it’s been a while and I like you, let’s say… let’s say $50 even.”

“Shit,” Klaus mutters. “Shit. I’m fresh out of cash, Love.” He bats his eyelashes.

“Klaus…” Ben and Love warn simultaneously.

Klaus puts his hands up. “Look, Love, I know you usually don’t do this, but I really need a hit, and I can’t keep living off of shitty weed.”

“Klaus, I can’t, I—”

Klaus cuts him off with a kiss, which Love reciprocates almost immediately. Ben closes his eyes and turns away. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Klaus has won this round, that he’s succeeded in convincing Love to sell him heroin in exchange for sex.

“I’m leaving,” Ben calls as he walks away, before he has to witness Klaus whore himself out for drugs. No amount of love for his brother can make him stick around for that. “I’ll be back later tonight.”

And he does come back, just as promised. He doesn’t know exactly what he expected to find. Maybe Klaus blissed out and in Love’s arms, both of them up in the stratosphere? Maybe Klaus alone, giggling and nodding off? He’s not sure.

Whatever it was, though, he’s sure it wasn’t the sight of Love kneeling next to Klaus’ prone body, shaking him and pleading with him to wake up.

If Ben could throw up, he’s sure he would. Klaus has a needle embedded in his left arm, broken off from the rest of the syringe, and he isn’t moving. His eyes are wide open, but they’re glazed over and unblinking. His breathing is slow, far too slow. Every breath produces a gurgling noise too, as his throat becomes closed off. His skin is clammy and pale, and he’s turning blue around his lips and fingernails.

Ben is helpless to do anything besides crouch on Klaus’ other side and join Love in trying to wake him up. “Klaus, c’mon, man, you gotta get up. It’s not safe to drift off here, it’s—” Ben can’t get the rest past the lump in his throat. Dammit, he should be better at this with how often Klaus has done this before, but each overdose is just as scary as the last one. “You’re not allowed to die yet,” he finishes weakly. “Please.”

By some miracle of fate, Love is still one of Klaus’ smarter junkie friends, and he has the presence of mind to call 911 and get an ambulance on the way before scampering off into the dark like a coward. Ben sighs. At least Love had done _something_ before ditching Klaus, even if it was the bare minimum.

When the ambulance arrives, Ben’s not entirely surprised to see Klaus’ favorite paramedic, one David Katz, hop out and rush to Klaus’ side. He almost always seems to be on call when Klaus needs help.

“Shit, Klaus,” Dave mutters as he gets to work lifting Klaus onto the stretcher rushed over by the other paramedics. There’s no pissing around, though, and the moment Klaus is secured on the stretcher, they wheel him into the ambulance. Ben follows closely, staring sadly at Klaus as Dave pulls the doors shut and the ambulance takes off.

“Let’s get him some naloxone, quick,” Dave orders. “I’ve no idea how long ago he shot up, but it’s not looking good.”

While another paramedic, a young woman who looks a little like Vanya if Ben squints, injects Klaus with naloxone, Dave gently removes and bags the needle that was in Klaus’ arm. After setting the bag aside, he moves on to methodically taking Klaus’ vitals.

It would look almost coldly routine, if it weren’t for the gentle brush of fingers through dark curls when Dave takes Klaus’ temperature, or the tender way that he strokes Klaus’ cheek as he fastens the oxygen mask over his face.

Ben thinks that if the situation weren’t so dire, Dave might honest to god hold Klaus’ hand, but there’s no time for it. In minutes, they’re at the hospital. Klaus is hurried off the ambulance and toward the ER with Dave right there at his side, still yelling orders.

“He’s coding! Keep that mask on him!”

It’s then that Ben spots a face he hasn’t seen in years. Diego, standing stock-still and staring after Klaus like he’s trying not to cry. Shit.

Not for the first time, Ben desperately wishes that he weren’t dead. He wants to walk over to Diego and hug him and tell him it’ll be okay, that Klaus always pulls through. He wants to see Diego’s face light up at the sight of him. He wants Diego to not be witnessing yet another death in the family. It physically pains him to have to walk past Diego with nothing more than a reassuring touch on the shoulder that Diego can’t even feel.

Klaus is dead when Ben walks through the doors of the ICU.

Ben feels the creatures in his gut roil at the sight, and he resists the urge to run out of the room. He hates when this happens. No matter that Dave already has the defibrillator pads pressed to Klaus’ chest and that Klaus has survived all of his past lethal overdoses. Simply put, there’s nothing easy about praying for Klaus’ luck to hold out.

But Dave delivers that life-saving electric shock, and Klaus’ heartbeat starts up again, and Ben lets out a little sob of relief. Just like always. He hovers his hand a hair’s breadth above Klaus’ in the closest possible approximation of hand-holding that he can accomplish and tries to calm his own heart. “Dammit, Klaus, when are you gonna quit this?” he whispers.

Klaus, of course, doesn’t answer. His eyes are closed now, his breathing almost normal, all in a cruel imitation of sleep. His skin, though, is still far too corpse-like for Ben’s comfort, his color just slightly too pale—and there’s that small detail of the breathing tube that’s forcing air into his lungs. Ben sighs and shakes his head at the wreck that is his brother.

Then Klaus is being moved to a bed and wheeled away, and Ben is brought back to awareness of the rest of the world. Sights and sounds of the hospital filter back in. “Yeah, same room as usual,” Dave is saying over his shoulder. “I just checked in, it’s still empty.”

Ben hurries after Dave and the others with Klaus, all the while avoiding eye-contact with the other ghosts wandering the corridors. They’re staring at Ben, wondering why he’s back and why he’s always with this same man who keeps on cheating Death.

The only ghosts Ben is willing to acknowledge are the little children who run alongside Klaus’ bed and sometimes hitch a ride, squealing with delight and pretending they’re on a ship.

“Benny-Ben!” one of the kids—a little girl named Phoebe—calls from where she’s perched on the foot of Klaus’ bed. “Is Klaus dead again?”

Ben shakes his head. “No, Phoebe, he’s not dead. Dave saved him.”

Phoebe smiles brightly. “Oh, good! Wait—we like Dave, right?”

“Yeah,” Ben chuckles. “Yeah, we like Dave.” With a giggle and a thumbs up, Phoebe returns to her playing. Ben smiles after her. He tries to give all the kids equal attention because god knows they all need it, but secretly, Phoebe may be his favorite.

Her story is a tragic one. She’d been born prematurely, addicted to opioids and into the loveless home of an alcoholic father who beat her almost daily and a druggie mother who wasted every second too high to be a proper caretaker. To the surprise of every doctor she’d ever seen, Phoebe survived until she was six years old. Then one night, in a drunken rage, her father had beaten her to death. No motive, no excuse—Phoebe told Ben that in court, her father had said he did it simply because he hated her.

Yet despite every horrible thing that happened to her in life, she’s the brightest spot of sunshine in the hospital. Every time Ben and Klaus come in, she rushes to say hello to them, and she’ll often sit with Ben in Klaus’ room spinning elaborate stories. She loves to play pretend, especially if it involves riding on Klaus’ bed and acting like she’s a heroic pirate on a mission to save a princess from the evil clutches of an arranged marriage.

Oddly enough, though, Klaus has never met Phoebe. Ben isn’t sure why he’s never introduced them. Maybe he’s worried Klaus will remind Phoebe too much of her mother. Or maybe he’s worried that seeing Phoebe would freak Klaus out—he has a hard time with hospital ghosts and might not take too kindly to Ben inviting a tiny, bloodied child into his room, no matter how sweet she is. Then again maybe his reasons are selfish. Maybe he just wants to keep this one thing from Klaus.

“Benny, look!” Phoebe calls when they arrive at Klaus’ room. “This is my secret pirate lair. You can come in, but shhh, you can’t tell anyone else.”

“Because it’s secret?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay.” Ben follows the bed through the doorway and hangs off to the side, near the chair by the bed. It’s darker than in the ICU, since Dave hasn’t flipped the lights and is instead working by the light of the hallway and the streetlamps outside. He hums a nice tune as he moves around Klaus, which Phoebe sings along to at full volume.

A few minutes later, a nurse comes in and takes over for Dave, who grazes his knuckles over Klaus’ arm before he leaves to help wherever he’s needed next. The nurse finishes situating Klaus and checking on everything, then he too leaves.

“Dave likes Klaus,” Phoebe says thoughtfully. “He like-likes him.”

“Yeah?” Ben smirks. “You think so?” The answer is obvious to anyone who’s ever seen Dave and Klaus interact, but he’s not going to ruin Phoebe’s sleuthing.

“Yeah! He looks at him like Mommy used to look at Daddy.” For a moment, Phoebe looks so sad, but the expression is gone in a moment. “Are Klaus and Dave getting married?”

Ben coughs. “Excuse me?” As far as he’s aware, neither Klaus nor Dave has made a move toward anything official. Phoebe doesn’t seem too bothered by Ben’s confusion, though.

“Well, they both like-like each other. Doesn’t that mean they get married?”

“Uh…”

Ben is saved from answering by the return of the nurse, this time with Diego, who looks so destroyed that Phoebe drops the subject of Klaus and Dave completely, runs to the chair that he drops into, and peers at him with a mixture of curiosity and sympathy. “Oh no, he looks sad… Is this your scary brother?”

Ben laughs outright because Diego is the complete opposite of scary, even if he’s always wished he was. “No, Luther is our scary brother. This is Diego. He’s the cop.”

“Did he take Daddy to jail?” Phoebe is staring at Diego with what can only be described as admiration.

“Er—I don’t know.” In truth, Ben knows the answer is no, since Phoebe died almost a decade ago. But Phoebe’s always wanted to meet the people who “avenged her death,” as she puts it, and if she wants to make Diego into her hero, Ben won’t stop her.

“Why’s he crying?” She pats Diego’s arm, though her hand goes right through him. “It’s okay, Diego. Dave saved Klaus.”

The words can’t reach Diego, though, and he remains a sobbing mess at Klaus’ bedside. “Why?” he’s saying. “Why w-would you do this? Don’t you know heroin c-can kill you?”

“Heroin?” Phoebe asks with wide eyes, remembering hers and her own mother’s struggle with opioid addiction. Ben nods solemnly.

“W-when you w-w-wake up,” Diego says, “I’m gonna b-beat the shit out of you, you p-p-prick. You hear m-me?”

Ben flinches, expecting Phoebe to be scared of that. Obviously, Diego would never really make good on the threat, and he doesn’t know that he’s just said those words in front of a very young abuse victim who died from being beaten, but that doesn’t change the fact that Phoebe is very much listening to everything. She doesn’t look afraid, though, just sad.

“He doesn’t mean that,” she says. “Right? He won’t hurt Klaus?”

“Diego only hurts bad guys,” Ben assures her. “He’s like a superhero.”

“I like superheroes,” Phoebe comments. A little yawn escapes her. “Oh shit.”

“Phoebe!” Ben gasps. “What’ve we discussed about cursing?”

“No cursing where you can hear?”

“That’s right. Now I think it’s time for you to go to bed.” He gives her his sternest look, which really isn’t that stern at all.

“Ghosts don’t have bedtimes,” Phoebe argues.

“Yes, but six-year-olds do.” Ben pats her head. “C’mon, please? For me?”

Phoebe sighs. “Okay, just for you, Benny. Night-night.”

Ben waves goodbye, and Phoebe disappears. She usually sleeps in the children’s ward, next to one of the kids young enough to still sense her presence and talk to her, so Ben can safely assume that that’s where she’s gone.

When he turns back to his brothers, he finds Diego asleep with his hand in Klaus’. The sight is bittersweet to Ben. He’s beyond glad that one of Klaus’ living siblings is here now, but he wishes he could do what Diego’s doing—holding Klaus’ hand, really touching him.

They both sleep through the night, and for those meager few hours, the three of them could almost be a normal family. But then the morning comes and Diego and Klaus almost immediately get into a fight, after which Diego leaves with his tail between his legs.

“Wow, you two really don’t know how to have a civil conversation,” Ben comments. “Y’know for a moment there, I really thought it was going well, but then you blew it.”

“Oh please, he started it!” Klaus counters. “Nice to see you too, by the way. How long was I dead this time?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you are not deflecting right now. You accused Diego of not caring about you. I’d say that qualifies as _you_ starting it. And anyways, how old are we again? Only kids say, ‘he started it.’”

“But he did! He brought up me being gone when you died, which for the record, I really am sorry about—but I’ve apologized as much as I think a person can, and he had no right to say that to me.”

“Jesus, Klaus, he didn’t mean it.” Ben paces back and forth. “You know how Diego is—sometimes words just slip out of his mouth before he can stop them.”

“Yeah, but it still hurt. I’m well aware that I let you down, I don’t need him barging into my life and reminding me. And anyways, I was hoping that in the last six years, he’d fixed that little problem of his.” Klaus crosses his arms and looks away.

Gently, Ben says, “And I think he was hoping you’d actually made a decent life for yourself after you ran away.”

For a moment, Klaus looks like he wants to get defensive, but then he visibly deflates. “I really fucked up there, didn’t I?”

Ben hums. “Perhaps. But you know Diego, he’ll be back. If nothing else, he’s gonna figure out that I’ve been here the whole time and come back to interrogate you.”

That makes Klaus snort. “You sure about that? I’d bet money on him never realizing it. He’s not the pointiest prick on the cactus.”

“But he is a prick.”

“But he is a prick,” Klaus agrees.

Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door. Ben and Klaus look at each other. No way Diego’s back so soon, and even if he was, he’d never knock, he’d just come right in. But who else could be here to visit?

It’s Dave. “Hey, Klaus,” he greets, opening the door. “I’m on break right now, and I thought I’d check in on you. Mind if I come in?”

Ben doesn’t miss the blush that accompanies Klaus’ nod. He smirks at Klaus and makes a suggestive gesture, knowing full well that Klaus can’t defend himself with Dave in the room.

Dave and Klaus converse easily for a while. Ben moves to the windowsill and tries to ignore them as best he can because he can only stand so much of witnessing Klaus’ terrible flirting. Dave’s not much better, though. Ben laughs to himself. Poor Dave. At least he has his good looks going for him.

It isn’t much longer before once again, there’s an unexpected knock at the door.

Dave leaps to his feet. “I’ve got it. Probably your nurse.” He opens the door. “Uh… Klaus, were you expecting a visitor?”

“What? No, I—Oh.”

“Hey, Klaus,” Diego says sheepishly.

“Hey, Diego.”

Dave clears his throat, and Ben feels bad for him. Poor guy is having to witness Hargreeves family drama up close and personal, and that’s enough to bring the strongest of people to their knees. “Well, I should probably get back to work. My break’s almost up.”

Dave leaves them, with an apologetic wave to Klaus that seems to say, “I realize that it’s not my place to intrude on whatever this is, but good luck.”

“You can see Ben.” Those are the first words out of Diego’s mouth. Ben snickers as Klaus tries and fails to play dumb in the face of Diego’s brash—and for once, warranted—confidence. Eventually Klaus caves and points over at Ben.

“He’s sitting over there. Dave was in the chair.”

“Dave?” Diego raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Y’know, the paramedic guy that you just scared the shit out of. He’s the one who picked me up last night, and he wanted to come see if I was okay.”

Ben can literally see the gears turning in Diego’s head, his big-brother instincts kicking in as a response to what he perceives to be some random, creepy paramedic who is fixated on Klaus after one ambulance ride. But the moment passes and Diego moves onto the real reason he’s come back—Ben.

Of course, that causes more bickering and fighting, Diego’s temper only fueled by the fear and guilt he’s been trying to hide.

“I’ve spent all morning feeling terrible about myself and like I’m the worst brother in the world, and that wouldn’t be a problem if I’d just known that you’ve been able to see Ben this whole time!”

“Oh, I’m crying for you, Diego, I truly am,” Klaus drawls.

“Klaus, stop,” Ben says. “You’re just making this worse.”

“You shut up, this has nothing to do with you!” Klaus snaps. He glares at Ben, and Ben just rolls his eyes.

“Hey, hold on a minute, I think this has everything to do with Ben.”

Klaus laughs incredulously. “Oh, great, now you two are ganging up on me, huh? Jesus, can’t a guy catch a break, I mean—I mean, you two can’t even talk to each other.”

“Klaus, man—”

“Look, Klaus, I—”

“One at a time, people!” Klaus yells. “Ben, I like you better, so you first.” It’s an obvious attempt at pissing Diego off, and Ben is kind of proud of Diego for not rising to the heckling. He has to focus on Klaus here, though, since he’s the one causing a scene.

“Klaus,” he tries again. “I need you to calm down. You and Diego already tried the fighting route, remember? And you said you felt bad about driving him away, so maybe try to be a little more open to what Diego has to say. I doubt he only came here to talk about me.”

“…Alright, fine,” Klaus grumbles. “But don’t think we’re done here.” He turns to Diego. “Okay, I guess I have to listen to you now. What do you want?”

Klaus looks as surprised as Ben is when Diego hangs his head and offers up the most genuine and heartfelt apology that probably anyone in the family ever has.

“I can’t undo the last six years,” he says. “But I’d like to—to maybe try to be your brother again, if you’ll let me.”

Ben holds his breath, waits for Klaus to blow up and tell Diego to fuck off because sorry doesn’t fix years of hurt. But all Klaus does is smile tightly and say, “Okay.”

And then they meet Diego’s girlfriend and professional partner, Eudora.

“Did you two talk about what you needed to?” she asks.

“You mean about Ben being dead?” Klaus blurts out. All three of them turn to look at him. Ben hadn’t expected Klaus to be so… forward about it. Klaus, to his credit, seems equally surprised at himself. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I said that. That’s not—sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Eudora says. “Diego already told me a little bit about what happened. Is he… is he here right now?” Ben waves at her, despite knowing that she can’t see him.

Klaus, though, he just gasps, looks between Diego and his girlfriend. “You told her?”

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Klaus furrows his brow. “Right.” The conversation continues with some more teasing and joking about Klaus’ flighty dating life, but Ben can’t stop staring at Klaus with his brow furrowed in concentration. Something isn’t right. The way Klaus is looking at Eudora… it’s like he’s forgotten that they’ve been introduced.

He’s snapped out of his thoughts, though, by Klaus pointing toward him and saying, “Right over there.”

Eudora waves right at Ben, which is a really weird but really nice moment. “Hi, Ben,” she says. It sends a little thrill through Ben to be acknowledged by the living.

“I like her,” he decides. “I hope Diego keeps her around. But uh, Klaus? I think we need to talk. In private, if you would.”

The speed at which Diego agrees honestly shocks Ben. As does his promise to return to Klaus tomorrow.

“See you, bro,” he says as he leaves.

“Yeah, see you.”

~

And now, here Ben is, waiting for Klaus to finish selling himself for more drugs once again. He doesn’t go far this time, not after last night. He wants to be around to stop Klaus from going overboard.

It’s not easy. So close to the alley, he can _hear_ what Klaus—what his own brother—is doing. It’s disgusting, truly. Not to mention that Ben doesn’t recognize the other voice, so there’s no telling if it’s even safe.

After a while, the sounds stop, and Ben thanks whatever higher power is out there for the reprieve. He stands, waiting for Klaus to emerge from the alley. It should be any minute now, once Klaus has pocketed whatever it is he’s bought. Any minute…

Ben glances around. It’s only early afternoon—there’s no way Klaus fell asleep in the alley. So where is he?

“Klaus?” Ben walks toward the alley. “Klaus, you okay?” There’s no answer, and Ben’s pace quickens. “Hey, Klaus?”

The alley is empty. If Ben had to guess, he’d say Klaus hopped the fence on the other end of the alley, which lets out onto an adjacent street. His motivation is anyone’s guess. It could’ve been impulse, he could’ve seen someone he knows, or he could just be avoiding Ben.

With a sigh, Ben trudges down the alley, keeping an eye and ear out for any sign of Klaus through the back doors lining the walls. Unfortunately, Klaus isn’t in the alley, and he’s not on the street it opens to. Ben isn’t surprised but he’s still disappointed. Why can’t Klaus just for once be easy to find?

Ultimately, he finds Klaus asleep under a bridge near the water just as the sun is rising. “Klaus, what the hell,” he mutters. He flops down next to Klaus and leans back against the wall, hands folded behind his head. “You can’t just run off like that, you scared me.”

He gets, of course, no answer from Klaus, who continues to snore peacefully. Ben sighs. He’s worried about Klaus, even more than usual. By all accounts, this whole thing should be just like all the other times, but there’s something off about Klaus’ behavior. It’s like his mind isn’t entirely there.

Ben had first noticed when Klaus struggled to recognize Diego. Initially, he’d passed it off as a symptom of time and distance, but it’d occurred to him that he hasn’t seen Diego in nearly as long as Klaus, and he had no trouble at all placing Diego’s face. And Diego had recognized Klaus on the spot with little more than a glance as he was wheeled past. So why had it taken Klaus so long?

Same thing with Diego’s girlfriend Eudora. They’d been introduced, they’d been talking, then only seconds later, Klaus had entirely forgotten why Diego would’ve told her about the Umbrella Academy and their powers. That doesn’t happen.

Then running off and falling asleep in an unfamiliar place. Klaus has been on the streets long enough to know how dangerous it is to do this. Even a sleazy crackhouse is safer than an open and exposed bridge with no one around to help if something goes sideways.

It’s troubling to Ben, and he has no idea how to address the problem. Has Klaus really gone off the deep end? Was there something in that heroin causing complications? Whatever it is, Ben is at a loss. All he can do is try to keep Klaus close and protect him as best he can.

The night has evidently passed without incident. The next few hours are the same, and Ben relaxes more as the morning creeps on. Diego will arrive back at the hospital today. Ben glances over at Klaus to see him slowly waking.

“Ben?” he mumbles. “Where am I?”

“Under a bridge,” Ben answers. “You ran off, and I found you here this morning.”

“Huh.” Klaus sits up. “Don’t remember how I got here…” He pauses. “I went back to the hospital last night.”

“What?” Ben blinks at him. “Why?”

“I didn’t want Dave to find out I left. So I checked myself back in and stayed for a few hours. He came in to check on me, and then I left again. What time is it?”

“Uh, don’t ask me. You’re the one with the phone.”

“Oh, yeah.” Klaus pulls his phone out of his pocket and curses. “It’s dead. And I lost my charger a few days ago. Ugh, guess I have to get another one.”

“You are not stealing a phone charger,” Ben says.

“Last I checked, you can’t stop me.” Klaus stands and dusts his pants and coat off. “You’re welcome to wait here for me if you don’t want to be an accomplice.”

“Oh, hell no,” Ben answers, jogging to catch up with Klaus. “I’m not letting you out of my sight, not after you pulled that stunt last night. It took me ages to find you. I had to ask other ghosts if they’d seen you.”

“Ooh, that’s some real detective work there, maybe you should team up with Diego! So how’d you describe me? Dashingly attractive? Sexiest man alive? Effortlessly gorgeous?”

“Scrawny, wild-haired junkie wearing all black,” Ben deadpans. “Specifically, a sheer crop top, leather pants, and a hideous patchwork coat.”

Klaus laughs. “Ouch. Y’know, I happen to like this coat.”

They pass a TV store, and Ben catches sight of the time. About half past one. Klaus really had slept the morning away.

“So are you gonna go back for Diego?” Ben asks. “Like you did for Dave?”

Klaus rolls his eyes. “I already told you, Diego’s not actually gonna come back and visit. He’s probably already forgotten.”

“Klaus—”

“Just drop it, Ben,” Klaus snaps. “Okay? Leave me alone.”

Ben gapes at Klaus, confused at his sudden anger. “What is wrong with you? You’ve been acting very strange.”

“Maybe I’m just sick of you always following me around and telling me what to do. I’m twenty-two fucking years old, Ben, I don’t need you to mother me every waking moment of my life. So why don’t you go haunt someone else for once.”

The malice in Klaus’ voice makes Ben recoil. Now he’s sure there’s something wrong with Klaus. Never in his life has Klaus spoken so cruelly to anyone, let alone Ben, who’s always been his best friend. Even when he was at his worse, right before he ran away, he never went out of his way to be hurtful.

“Fine,” Ben says quietly. “Fine. If you want me to leave you alone, I will. But don’t come crying to me when you inevitably get yourself into trouble.”

Without waiting another moment, Ben turns and leaves. Let Klaus ruin his own life. What does he care? It isn’t his job to babysit Klaus, and maybe Klaus was right that he shouldn’t try to do so.

But no, Klaus needs him. Ben realizes this, realizes that he shouldn’t have stormed off so hastily. He definitely shouldn’t have let Klaus get to him like that. They’re both just stressed out and frazzled from the last couple of days, that’s all.

So Ben goes back. Of course, now he’s back to not knowing where Klaus is, thanks to his own stupidity, but that won’t be too much of an issue, right? He’ll just keep walking in the opposite direction until he catches up to Klaus.

It’s not that simple. He doesn’t find Klaus for hours, until it’s dark. When he finally does find him, he’s stumbling out of a bar, drink in hand—which Ben is pretty sure is illegal here—and teetering off down the street. Ben hurries after him, catching up as Klaus turns down yet another alley.

“Klaus,” he says, and Klaus jumps.

He whirls around, almost falling down in the process. “Ben? I thought you left.” He giggles. “Does this mean I’m your favorite sibling?”

“It means you’re the only one who can see me,” Ben says. He nods to the bottle. “What’ve you got there?”

“Whiskey!” Klaus crows. “And…” He fishes around in his pants and comes up with a little orange pill bottle. “Ativan!”

Ben watches in horror as Klaus empties the bottle of Ativan down his throat and washes it down with a mouthful of whiskey. It’s literally the stupidest thing he’s ever seen Klaus do, and that’s saying a lot.

“Oh geez, I gotta sit down,” Klaus slurs. He slides down against the wall. “Shittt, my head feels funny.”

Ben is seriously panicking. “Oh god, why did you just do that?” he moans. “Klaus, oh my god, that’s gonna kill you.”

Klaus waves his hand. “No it’s not, you’re overreacting. I just felt like getting a little high, that’s all.”

“You just swallowed a whole bottle of Ativan.” Ben’s voice is shaky. “And you’re drinking alcohol. Klaus, that literally _will_ kill you.”

Klaus blinks at him, takes another swig of whiskey. “Oh. Well, that’s unfortunate.” Ben can see his energy dipping, and he drops down next to Klaus and shakes his shoulder, determined to keep Klaus awake.

“Klaus.” He shakes him harder. “ _Klaus._ ” And then he realizes what he’s doing. “Oh my—Help!” he calls. Somehow, he’s corporeal, and he’s gonna take full advantage of it. “Somebody help me, someone—” His hand falls through Klaus’ shoulder. “Nonono, Klaus, c’mon, stay conscious. You gotta stay awake, just until someone comes.”

Klaus groans. “Ben, I’m tired, lemme sleep.”

Ben regains his corporeality, though, and he starts yelling again. “Help me! Someone, please!” And then, he’s back to being unseen and unheard.

“Hello?” a voice—Diego’s—sounds from the end of the alley. “Is there anyone down there? I’m police, I’m here to help you.”

Ben could cry from relief. As soon as Diego sees Klaus, he’s taking control of the situation, and in minutes, he has an ambulance on the way. He’s distraught, though, Ben can see it. There’s no way Diego wasn’t taught to not touch anything at a scene like this, but he gathers Klaus into his arms nonetheless and cries harder than Ben’s ever seen.

“K-Klaus, man, c’mon, you gotta s-stay with me. Just a f-few more minutes, please, please, please. You’re not gonna die. You’re n-not—” His voice cracks on a sob just as the ambulance arrives and Dave jumps out.

“Mr. Hargreeves, is that you down there?” Dave calls. He’s there with two other paramedics, and they take Klaus from Diego and bundle him into the ambulance. Dave lingers to help Diego up. “C’mon, let’s go. You wanna ride in the ambulance?”

Ben hops in the ambulance just ahead of Diego and situates himself next to his brother. The two of them wait while the paramedics are around Klaus, saving him. It doesn’t take nearly as long as last time, and the energy isn’t quite as frantic.

Dave comes to sit with Diego, and for the rest of the ride, he offers reassurance, which Ben is grateful for since Diego’s not as used to this as the rest of them. “He’s lucky that you found him when you did,” Dave says.

Ben glances at Klaus. Lucky, indeed. What had happened? For two very brief moments there, Klaus had accidentally made Ben physical. And Diego had _heard_ him calling for someone to help Klaus. Ben’s head is spinning with the new revelation that Klaus has that ability. Is it a form of self-preservation—something he can only do when his life is in danger? Can he even do it consciously?

Ben makes a mental note to ask Klaus later. The ambulance arrives at the hospital, and he hurries to keep up with Klaus. Unlike the other night, they take Klaus directly to his room, since he’s not in imminent danger of dying, thanks to the paramedics’ quick work.

Ben hangs off to the side while Dave helps transfer Klaus from the stretcher to the bed. It’s Dave and an unfamiliar nurse, the two of them working in tandem to lift Klaus from one place to the other. In a characteristically Klaus move, Klaus wakes up while he’s being carried.

“Oh, hey there, Dave,” he mumbles. “Didn’t know you felt that way about me… Ben, look, I think Dave and I might be getting somewhere!”

Dave chuckles. “Who’s Ben?” he asks as he and the nurse lay Klaus down on the bed.

“My brother,” Klaus says nonchalantly, still too out of it to censor himself. Ben groans and facepalms. Dave’s gonna think Klaus has lost his mind.

“I thought your brother’s name was Diego?”

“Oh no, my other brother,” Klaus says. He rambles on, despite Ben’s abortive gesturing. “He’s dead, though, so you can’t see him.”

“Okay, Klaus,” Dave says. “Hey, I’m gonna go and get Diego, okay? He’s down in the lobby.”

“Wait, what? Why’s he here? I’m fairly sure I didn’t put him down as my emergency contact.”

Dave shakes his head, laughing softly. “No, he’s not your emergency contact. He is the one that found you, though.” He runs a hand through Klaus’ hair, letting his hand linger on his face. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he’s gone, Ben steps forward. “You know you can’t be going around telling everyone that you see me, right? It makes you look crazy.”

“Darling, I am crazy.”

“You know what I meant.” Ben looks over at the door. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt if Dave can’t handle the concept of you having powers. Speaking of which—”

Ben is cut off by knocking on the door. “Klaus, it’s me, Dave. I have Diego with me.”

“Davey!” Klaus cheers as his visitors file in. “You’re back. And you brought Diego!”

However, this enthusiasm is met not with a tearful embrace, like Ben had expected, but with a very angry Diego getting up in in Klaus’ face and growling, “What the hell is wrong with you? You better explain yourself right now, or I’m gonna string you up and use you as target practice.”

Klaus giggles. “Well, it’s a long story.”

Diego cocks an eyebrow and backs up to cross his arms sternly. “Yeah? Well, I’ve got all night. So start talking.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll just sum it up for you.” Klaus takes a deep breath. “The other night, I slept with my dealer, Love, got a lot of heroin, cooked it, and shot up. I think it was cut with fentanyl, though, because apparently I overdosed. I woke up in the hospital with you in the room. Blah, blah, blah. Met your friend. Got in a fight with Ben. Then I left and slept with a different dealer to get me some coke. I came back here so Dave wouldn’t know I’d left, and after that, I left again and slept under a bridge. Ben and I got in another fight. He stomped off to throw his hissy fit. Meanwhile, I went and slept with Love again to get some Ativan, and then I went to a bar and bummed a bottle of whiskey off of this marvelous older gentleman who was passed out at his table. I took all the pills, almost died, and now here I am! Ta-da!”

Ben groans. Leave it to Klaus to sum up the hell that the last few days have been just like that, making it sound like some fun little misadventure, when really it’s been quite harrowing. Diego and Dave are evidently as bewildered as Ben, both of them speechless and staring at Klaus like he’s grown a second head.

Dave is the first to recover. He clears his throat. “That’s, uh… Klaus, that’s a lot to take in. And I’m still a little confused about this whole Ben person. Is he like—I mean, do you have hallucinations?”

All three of the Hargreeves brothers laugh at that, which Ben thinks is a great moment that they’re sharing. Of course Klaus’ powers look like hallucinating to an outsider—even to the rest of the family. It’s the easiest conclusion to come to when someone believes they can talk to the dead. In Klaus’ case, however, the dead are no hallucination.

“Oh, honey, Ben is quite real,” Klaus says. “He’s our dead brother.”

“I don’t understand,” Dave reiterates. “How can you get in a fight with your dead brother?”

“Because he can see dead people,” Diego answers. “Now we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Klaus why didn’t you stay here? I told you I was coming back to get you today.”

Klaus scoffs. “I thought you just said that to be nice. You do stuff like that, tell people what you think will make them happy. How was I supposed to know you were serious?”

“Dude,” Diego says. “That’s—of course I was serious. I want to be your brother again. I said that yesterday, and I stand by it. I wish you would trust me. Can you do that?”

There’s something like hope in Klaus’ eyes, as well as fear that he’s going to end up disappointed.

“You should listen to him,” Ben says. Klaus looks over at him, and Ben sees Diego’s eyes follow Klaus’ to land on him as well. “Isn’t this what you want? For someone to care about you? To get a second chance with family like we couldn’t have before I died? Klaus, this is the best opportunity of your life dangling right in front of your face. Take it.”

Diego shifts his weight nervously. “What’s he saying? Klaus—”

“Okay,” Klaus says.

“What?”

“Okay. I’m deciding to trust you and your intentions, and I accept you back into my life. We can try this brother thing again.”

Diego’s eyes light up. “Really? Klaus, man, that’s awesome. I was kind of scared you’d say no.” His hand drifts to the knife on his belt in a nervous gesture that Ben recognizes from their childhood. “Sorry I got aggressive with you earlier.”

“It’s fine. I deserved it.” Klaus smiles at Diego, then turns his attention to Dave. “Sorry, I realize that this is probably among the weirder things you’ve seen.”

Dave shrugs. “I see estranged families reunite all the time. What I’m really lost on is, once again, who Ben is. Er, well, I get that he’s your deceased brother. But Diego said that you can…”

“That I can see the dead? Yes. It’s a thing, don’t worry about it.”

Thankfully, Diego comes to Dave’s rescue. “We can explain it later. There’s a lot of backstory to it, and I think a hospital might not be the best environment for the whole story.”

“Alright,” Dave says. He heaves a deep breath. “Honestly, I’m just glad that you’re okay, Klaus.”

“Yeah, me too,” Diego says. Silence takes over for a moment, then Diego says. “Hey, how about we all go back to my place? I know it’s late, but I can call Eudora and tell her we’re coming. She and I can cook you all a late dinner if you’d like too, and Dave, we can tell you about all this weirdness in the morning. Does that sound okay to everyone?”

“Oh, I, for one, would absolutely love a home-cooked meal,” Klaus says. “So yes, I would like to go to your house. Ben?”

“I think it’s the best decision you’ve made since I died.”

“Great! Ben agrees. Dave?”

Dave hesitates more than Klaus and Ben. Ben understands—this isn’t his family and technically, he only knows Klaus in a professional paramedic-patient capacity, even if he and Klaus do have a slightly closer relationship than would be standard for that. Ben thinks they probably qualify as friends by now, at the very least.

“I guess I am curious,” he says vaguely. “Alright, sure. What the hell, I’m in. I have Saturdays off anyway, so it’s not like I was planning on doing anything.”

“Awesome,” Diego says. “Then let’s roll.”

As Dave starts to help Klaus out of the hospital bed, Ben beams. He can already see that this is progress, for real this time. He follows Klaus, Diego, and Dave out the door, waving to Phoebe as he goes.

“Bye, Benny! Don’t come back too soon!” she calls.

Ben grins. “Not planning on it! I think Klaus might actually be getting better.”

Phoebe looks at where Diego has an arm flung over Klaus’ shoulders and how Dave and Klaus’ hands brush as they walk out down the corridor.

“Yeah,” she says. “I think so too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? I said it was long, didn't I? Also I know Phoebe seems kind of random, but I created her and now I love her, and I'm like 98% sure we'll be seeing more of her. Idk if y'all can see it yet with what I've given you, but in my mind, she has the potential to really drive Klaus and Ben's arcs, and maybe Diego's too. We'll see! Anyways, comments and kudos are always loved and cherished (even if I get to them late), and you can catch me on tumblr [@lastoftherealblues](http://lastoftherealblues.tumblr.com/)!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all didn't think I forgot about this fic ;) Sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated, I've just had a really busy time, what with summer classes and procrastinating and falling ass deep into Good Omens and all. I also want to reiterate that I read every comment I get, and I don't mean to ignore anyone--I just have a habit of responding to things when I update chapters, just to give myself a little personal motivation. But I have read the comments, and I love every single one, and I get teary-eyed over all of them. Just thought I'd give y'all a little love at the start here.<3 Anyway! I've got some fresh new fluff and some fresh new angst here for y'all to enjoy, so... enjoy! (P.S. we're back to Diego's POV for the foreseeable future)

Eudora is still awake when Diego calls her, and for the thousandth time probably, Diego thanks the heavens for her strange sleeping habits.

“Hey, honey,” she says. “Everything alright?”

“Uh…” Diego glances at the two men in his backseat and over at the “empty” passenger seat that Klaus had directed Ben to. Klaus is dozing with his head against Dave’s shoulder, which Dave seems unbothered by. “That’s a really complicated answer, but the short answer is yes? I think?”

Eudora is silent for a second, then she says, “Okay, what’s wrong? I can tell there’s something on your mind.”

“It’s… I think it’s probably best if I explain it when I get home. I just wanted to call and give you a heads up that I’m on my way back, and uhhh. I have Klaus with me. As well as Ben.” Diego pauses. “As well as Dave.”

“Dave? Who’s Dave?” Diego can hear Eudora getting up and walking around. “Is he another ghost?”

“No, he’s, uh. He’s a paramedic,” Diego says. In the backseat, Dave visibly grimaces.

“Why do you have a paramedic?” Eudora asks suspiciously. “Diego, if something’s wrong, you can tell me.”

“We just had a little scare with Klaus, that’s all,” Diego says. “But he’s fine now,” he adds quickly, glancing at Dave for confirmation. Dave nods, and Diego shoots him a grateful smile.

Eudora sighs, and Diego can almost see her shaking her head. “Okay, I trust you, babe, but that sounds like a hell of a story that I’m gonna need details on. Are Klaus and Dave spending the night, then? I can set up the guest room and pull out the couch.”

“Why don’t you wait ‘til I get home, and I’ll help you,” Diego suggests. It’s code for “I’ll catch you up on things while we do that, but I can’t tell everyone that we’re gonna be talking about them while they’re sitting in my car with me,” and he can tell that Eudora gets the memo when she snorts in mild amusement.

“Alright, that’s fine with me. I will start dinner, though. If I’m reading this right, you all haven’t had the chance to eat, have you?”

Diego chuckles. “Baby, I think we’ve been together too long—you’re practically reading my mind these days.”

Eudora tuts. “Please. Don’t act like you don’t love it.”

“I never said I don’t,” Diego agrees. “Anyway, we’ll be home in a few. Don’t burn the house down before I get there, okay? Love you.”

“Mhm. Love you too, rookie.”

They hang up, and Diego tosses his phone into the passenger seat, not thinking much about it, until it’s too late. He cringes as it lands, presumably going straight through his brother. “Shit, sorry, Ben,” he says. Thank god, Klaus isn’t awake to laugh at him. He’s sure Ben will tell Klaus about it later, and then he’ll probably get an earful from Klaus, but for now, the car remains blissfully free of any ribbing at Diego’s expense.

The rest of the ride is mostly quiet except for the din of the radio and Klaus’ soft breathing. Diego simply doesn’t know what to say to Dave, and he guesses Dave is feeling the same way. The poor man is also probably still trying to figure out just what kind of hell he’s stepped into. He already knows about many of Klaus’ problems by virtue of his career, and he still seems to care very deeply about Klaus, but he’s in for some big surprises once he learns exactly what’s going on with the Hargreeves family. Diego hopes it doesn’t drive him away.

“Home, sweet home,” Diego announces as he parks the car. He steps out and waves to Eudora through the kitchen window. Then he turns to open Klaus’ door and shakes his brother’s shoulder. “C’mon, bro, time to wake up.”

Klaus jerks awake with a start and a choked off shout. He looks around with wide, terrified eyes until his gaze settles on Diego. He lets out a long sigh. “Christ, Diego, you startled me,” he says, laughing a little. “You’ll give a guy a heart attack.”

Diego backs up to let him slide out of the car without comment, but he catches Dave’s eye, and he can see that neither of them are letting that slip of Klaus’ façade go so easily.

They walk up to the front door behind Klaus, who is chattering to Ben. Remarkably, Dave appears to be taking it all in stride, which is a pleasant surprise. And sure, he’d had about half an hour of waiting with Klaus while Diego ran to fetch his car from where he’d left it, but Diego still finds his ease and instant acceptance to be remarkable.

Eudora is there opening the door with a smile as they approach. “Hey, Klaus,” she greets with a bright smile.

“Hi! Eudora, right?” Klaus gushes as he hugs her, planting a kiss on one cheek and then the other. “Nice place you’ve got.”

“Thank you,” Eudora beams. “Come on in, you can set your stuff anywhere.” After Klaus goes in, she holds out her hand to Dave. “You must be Dave,” she says.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dave says, shaking her hand. “Thanks for having me over, especially so late at night and on such short notice.”

“Of course,” Eudora says. “I’ll be honest, I’m just a tad lost on your role in this, but I’m guessing you’re helping Diego look after Klaus?”

Dave laughs. “More or less. I’ve picked Klaus up a few times now. Apparently there’s some… interesting things about him, and Diego promised to explain things.”

“Ohhh.” Eudora smiles sympathetically. “You’re getting the powers talk. Don’t worry, I was confused too when Diego first told me about his powers. You’ll get used to it, though, I promise. In the meantime, why don’t you come on in?”

“Thank you.”

Dave passes her, going straight to the couch to sit with Klaus, and Eudora smiles at Diego. “You okay?” she asks as they step inside.

“Yeah, I think so,” Diego answers, closing the door behind him. He glances over Eudora’s shoulder at where Klaus and Dave are talking softly on the couch. “I’m still kind of rattled, though.”

Eudora rubs his arm. “No kidding. Seriously, I can’t believe you’re still standing after the last few days you’ve had.”

“Please, baby. This is nothing compared to Dad’s training intensives,” Diego jokes. He gets a mild glare from Eudora and stoops to kiss her cheek apologetically. “Sorry, I know, not a good time. Hey, let’s go finish dinner. I love cooking with you, and I think if I try to talk to Klaus right now, I might punch him.”

“That bad, huh?” Eudora asks as they relocate to the kitchen. She hands Diego a pot of rice to wash, which Diego gladly accepts.

Turning on the faucet and lowering his voice, he says, “He fucking overdosed again. He was in some seedy back alley with a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of Ativan, and this time, I’m the one who found him.” He runs the rice under the water for a couple seconds before continuing. “I called an ambulance for him, and Dave said it wasn’t as close a call as the other night, but…” He trails off.

“But it’s still hard,” Eudora finishes for him because she always knows him.

Diego nods, unable to speak. Images of Klaus dying on a gurney bubble up in his mind, followed closely by the sight of him slumped alone in an alley. And he thinks of Ben’s mutilated, broken body and of Five as he was on the day he vanished. God, how easily Klaus could’ve joined the ranks of lost brothers—that really could’ve been it. And something about Luther being his last living brother just doesn’t quite sit right with Diego.

He’s grateful that Eudora doesn’t try to say anything past that simple acknowledgment of his pain. She only hums softly while she’s chopping vegetables and dumping them in the wok, allowing him the space to think.

Admittedly, not much is really done in the way of thinking. Washing the rice is a process done almost on autopilot, and once the rice is in the cooker, he’s left with little to do but pick idly at a chip in the counter. He’s so on-edge that every sound in the house cuts straight through his ruminations.

The sizzle of stir-fry in the wok. The chime of Klaus giggling from the living room. The tick of the wall clock. The smooth cadence of Dave’s voice that prompts more laughter from Klaus.

It should be nice. It should be everything Diego’s ever wanted. He’s in his own house, cooking dinner with the woman he loves, and his runaway brother is alive and laughing in the living room, and said brother is with a kind and understanding friend who is, by all estimates, actually a good influence on him. Oh, and Ben is here too, even though Diego had once been  sure that his funeral was the final good-bye.

So it really is perfect, but Diego can’t possibly forget what landed them all here tonight. Klaus has a serious problem. Diego doesn’t think he’s suicidal, exactly, since these overdoses seem to be purely motivated by poor planning and unsafe decisions. Klaus hasn’t breathed a word about actively wanting to die, and he’s not expressed disappointment at having been resuscitated twice in the span of three days. No, he just seems to be reckless with his drug use, to the point of deadly overdoses. But even if Klaus isn’t out to off himself, Diego’s still very, very concerned about him.

The timer on the rice cooker goes off, and Diego scoops the rice into a large ceramic bowl. “I almost blame myself,” he admits quietly, shattering the silence. “For this second overdose, I mean. I feel like I must’ve said or done something wrong, or like maybe I shouldn’t have gone to see him at all. I mean, was it wrong of me to just drop back into his life? He ran away for a reason, I’m sure, and maybe I was cruel to put him through the pain of having his past follow him. I know he’s acting like he’s glad to be here now, but I doubt it’ll last after he’s gotten a good hot meal and slept the night in a real bed. He probably hates me and doesn’t even realize it yet.”

“Diego, that’s not true,” Eudora rebuts gently. “You can’t blame yourself for any of this. Sure, seeing you might’ve been a shock, but Dave says Klaus has done this multiple times already, right? That means that whatever’s going on with him is not your fault.”

Diego sighs. “I dunno. You’re probably right, but I just—I don’t want to mess this up. It’s been six years since Klaus ran away, and I’d hate to lose him again so soon after finally getting him back.”

“I understand, honey, but overthinking it is just going to make things stiff between you and Klaus. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you have a very honest face, and it’ll be really obvious if all you’re thinking about while talking to him is what might go wrong.”

“Yeah…” Diego shakes his head. Eudora’s right, just like she usually is, and he’s catastrophizing. Not that he has to do much reaching to make it to catastrophe, not with the long history of objectively explosive Hargreeves family spats that he and Klaus share. Even so, Diego knows deep down that a negative attitude will only make things worse.

“Okay, I’ll try not to stress over dinner,” he says, a promise to Eudora and a resolve to himself. He gives Eudora a strained smile. “Feel free to kick me if I start being a downer.”

Eudora smirks. “I’ll go for the shins,” she assures him while she dishes the stir-fry into a serving bowl. “Should I go put on my steel-toed boots too?”

“Now you’re just looking for an excuse to rough me up.” Diego’s laughing, though, happy to be able to banter with her. It’s just what he needs to put him in a slightly better headspace, though his nerves are still crackling. But catching Eudora’s eye and seeing reassurance that she’s behind him, he knows he can handle this.

He gets down four glasses, fills them with ice water, and takes them to the table. Eudora brings out silverware and sets it out at the same time. Then they go to fetch the actual food and bowls for everyone.

Klaus is craning his neck over the back of the couch and eying the food, so Diego beckons him over. “You two are welcome to come serve yourselves now.”

It takes Klaus all of three seconds to gleefully hop up and hurry to the table, scooping rice and stir-fry into his bowl like a starving man, digging in even before Diego and Eudora are fully seated on either side of him. They exchange looks across the table, unsure if Klaus’ uninhibited enthusiasm should be flattering or concerning.

Dave moves much more leisurely to the table, and he serves himself politely and waits for Diego and Eudora to also serve themselves before picking up his fork.

“Oh, wow, this is delicious,” he says as he takes his first bite.

“Thanks,” Eudora beams. She turns to Klaus. “How about you, Klaus? Do you like it?”

Klaus looks up from his bowl, which is nearly empty, his mouth full, and Diego suppresses a laugh. If there’s one thing in the world that’s always been able to make Klaus shut up, it’s food. And that’s such a familiar thing that Diego can almost kid himself into picturing this as a normal family dinner.

Eudora does laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes?” When Klaus nods and smiles timidly, she gestures at the bowls in the middle of the table. “You’re welcome to have seconds if you want. We made plenty.”

Klaus practically inhales the rest of his food before going for more, and then he’s right back to shoveling his food into his mouth like he’ll never have another meal. Diego guesses a serious drug overdose might do that to a person, but the wild desperation in Klaus’ movements is just the slightest bit concerning.

Diego nudges Klaus under the table with his foot. “Slow down there, bro. You’re gonna give yourself heartburn.” What he means to say is, _when was the last time you ate a real meal?_ , but he gets the feeling Klaus is even more afraid to give that answer than Diego is to hear it. Besides, it’s the Hargreeves way to avoid saying what you mean when you know you won’t like the answer.

Of course, it’s also the Hargreeves way to ignore each other’s advice, and Klaus pauses only for a moment to move his foot away from Diego. Then he continues as he was. Diego frowns. Now doesn’t feel like the time to pick a fight with Klaus, but he really does think Klaus should come up for air.

Dave catches his eye and must understand something he sees because he says to Klaus gently, “Diego’s right.” And to Diego’s surprise, Klaus actual stops and looks up at Dave, visibly attentive to what he’s saying. “You don’t want to get sick, right?” Klaus shakes his head, and Dave gives him a small smile. “Then let’s slow down on the stir-fry, okay?”

Klaus sets his bowl down and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Okay.”

Diego looks over at Eudora. His exact question is reflected in her eyes: what the hell was that? It’s been a long time, but Klaus is almost characterized by his contrariety—and here’s Dave with two questions and a smile, and Klaus actually listens to him.

“Where’s your bathroom?” Klaus asks into the silence.

“Just down the hall on the right,” Diego answers, and Klaus scurries off the way Diego points him. Diego knows an opportunity when it bites him in the ass. The moment the door clicks shut, he turns to Dave. “So, Dave,” he says as casually as he can. “Does Klaus always listen to what you say?” He’s not trying to accuse Dave of anything, not by a long-shot, but he’s certainly curious.

“Hardly,” Dave says with a small laugh. “I kind of wish, though, not to be weird. If he did, I think his life might be a whole lot easier.”

Diego really can’t argue that in good conscience. You probably don’t get much better than a paramedic’s advice. “He never listens to me,” Diego says. “Even when we were kids, he would never follow orders, whether they came from Dad, our brother Luther, or me. Our sister Allison never bossed him around too much, and he ranked higher than everyone else, so,” he shrugs. “Really, I’m not surprised that he won’t listen to anyone. As a matter of fact, I’m surprised he listens to you at all.”

“Y…yeah.” Dave’s brow furrows, and it occurs to Diego that about half of what he said sounds absolutely ridiculous without context. Taking orders? Ranks? Dave must’ve heard about the Umbrella Academy before, but if he’s realized that that’s who Diego and Klaus are, he politely hasn’t let on. He has to at least have an inkling, the clues piling up too high to be coincidence. Or maybe not. Whatever the case, Diego supposes that even their once-fans never knew the _extent_ of how weird their upbringing was.

“At least it’s a pleasant surprise,” Eudora says, smoothing over the awkwardness. “I’m sure Ben appreciates the help.”

Diego barks out a laugh. He hadn’t even considered how Ben must feel with Klaus always running around and getting himself into trouble, but man, that has to be frustrating. Between saving Klaus’ life and occasionally convincing him to be marginally less of an idiot, Dave must be a godsend to Ben.

“The help with what?” Klaus asks, returning to the table.

“With you.” Diego responds and claps Klaus on the shoulder. No use lying, and he guesses Klaus still loves being the topic of conversation.

Klaus scoffs. “Ben doesn’t need any help with me—right, Ben? I’m perfectly manageable.”

He pauses, and Diego assumes that means Ben is answering.

“Oh, well that’s not _that_ many—” Klaus stops short. Diego frowns at Klaus, but Klaus is still looking off toward the couch.

After a second, he scratches his head and says, “You could use your tentacles…”

Dave lets out a noise that sounds half laugh and half choke. “Tentacles?” he asks faintly. “You don’t mean like… I mean—” He gestures helplessly.

Poor man. Evidently, he isn’t particularly familiar with everyone’s powers, even if Diego’s is still sure he’s heard of the Umbrella Academy. Maybe he’s like Eudora was and never cared to learn the specifics.

Eudora, who has been in his exact shoes before, is the one who comes to his rescue. “Ben had powers too,” she says. “Y’know how Klaus can see the dead?” Dave nods. “Well, Ben had, um. He had creatures living under his skin. Lots of things, according to Diego, but he’s most famously known for the tentacles that came out of his torso.”

“Oh—oh.” Dave’s mouth is slightly agape in poorly concealed horror. Which Diego thinks is appropriate.

“Because you’re dead, asshole,” Klaus snaps, seemingly out of nowhere. “Not you guys,” he adds, almost like an afterthought.

“I should hope not,” Eudora says with a smile. “Last I checked, my heart is still pumping.”

“You might want to check again. I get suspicious of people who talk to me.” Klaus winks at her, and she chuckles. The self-satisfied look on Klaus’ face at getting a positive reaction is almost eye-roll worthy, but honestly, Diego really likes seeing them get on so well. Really, if Klaus is going to be more present in Diego’s life (and Diego hopes he will be), it’s a fantastic thing that he and Eudora like each other, even if that entails an excessive amount of jokes from Klaus about his powers.

“Hey, if everyone’s done, we should probably all try to get some sleep,” Diego says. He gives Eudora a meaningful look to tell her that he wants to talk to her more now about everything that’s happened.

She gives a tiny nod. “Babe, if you get the dishes, I’ll start setting up the guest room and the couch for Klaus and Dave.”

“Sure.” Diego starts gathering dishes from the table and carrying it all to the kitchen.

Dave jumps up and grab a few dishes too. “Here, let me help.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay!” Diego assures him. “You and Klaus should just chill out. Let Eudora and I get everything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dave says as he passes Diego and continues to the kitchen. “It’s the least I can do, what with you feeding me and letting me stay over.”

Diego follows Dave into the kitchen, apparently having no choice but to allow him to help. He already knew Dave was a good guy, but it seems the man is so perfectly helpful that he can’t even be convinced to simply be a guest. And here Diego was thinking that if anyone deserves repayment, it’s Dave. After all, he’s saved Klaus’ life at least twice, he’s been nothing but understanding about everything, and he can actually get Klaus to be a reasonable person without ever being rough or harsh with him.

“I don’t mean any offense,” Dave passes an emptied out dish to Diego. “But you and Klaus… well, you said you aren’t close and haven’t seen each other in a while, and I was just wondering… Did something happen?”

Diego sighs, knowing he should’ve expected this to come up sooner or later. He doubts Dave had even heard of Diego until Diego showed up a couple days ago, at least not from Klaus. He’d have preferred to address this in the morning with everything else, but oh well, no time like the present. But where to start?

“You’ve heard of the Umbrella Academy, right?” he tries. Dave nods. “Cool, then you’ve probably figured out that Klaus and I are two of those kids.”

Dave blushes. “I didn’t want to assume or be rude or anything…”

“No, it’s fine.” Diego sticks another bowl in the dishwasher. “How much do you know about us?”

“Not a whole lot,” Dave admits. “I never really followed you guys too closely. Sorry.”

Diego snorts. “Don’t apologize. I might like you less if you were a die-hard fan. Kidding,” he adds at Dave’s nervous laugh. “Anyway, all you need to know right now is that Klaus was one of us, a long time ago, but he…” Diego takes a deep breath. “He ran away from home when we were sixteen, and we—I never saw him again. Not until the other night.”

Dave quietly stacks one of the plastic containers and carries them over to the fridge. Diego fears Dave might be thinking poorly of him for letting Klaus do that—not that there was any way they could’ve stopped him.

“We looked for him,” he says aloud, and Dave turns to face him. “For days and days—weeks, really. But…” And this is a major But, Diego thinks, sighing. “Dad was sure he’d come back eventually. Said he wasn’t nearly as smart or resourceful as Five, so he’d turn up somewhere within the month, dead or alive, and that searching was a waste of time and energy. So then we just… stopped looking.”

Dave leans against the counter and folds his arms. “He said that?”

“Word for word.”

Something in Dave’s face changes at that. Sadness, maybe. Or maybe anger on Klaus’ behalf because he can’t imagine how a father could ever think that about his child, or how an entire family could give up on one of their own so easily. And he’d be right to feel these things, Diego supposes. They should’ve looked harder for Klaus—Diego doesn’t know why they didn’t, except that Dad told them not to. A piss poor excuse by any measure, and Diego wouldn’t blame Dave if he decides he hates him and his part in Klaus’ shitty life.

Dave doesn’t say that, though. He says, “I’m sorry your dad is such a prick. Is he the reason Klaus ran away?”

Diego nods. “Dad was big on ‘training.’ At least, he called it training, but it was more like torture. I don’t even know what he made Klaus do, but if it was anything like what he did to me—” He cuts himself off and returns his attention to the dishes, furiously scrubbing at a nonexistent spot that the dishwasher would’ve been able to handle anyway.

As if he knows Diego doesn’t really want to talk about his own training, Dave, rather than pressing, kindly asks, “Then you don’t blame him?”

“Of course I don’t.” Diego heaves a sigh and mirrors Dave’s position against the opposite counter. “I never have. Not really. I felt… I dunno—betrayed isn’t the right word, but it was _something_. But I’ve never held it against him.”

“Well,” Dave straightens and claps Diego on the shoulder. “I think you should tell him that. Because I’m fairly certain that he thinks you hate him for running away.”

“What? Why would he—” Diego thinks about the way he’s been talking to Klaus this whole time, and he suddenly understands. He has been a little tetchy with Klaus, hasn’t he? A couple perfunctory attempts to be nice are next to nothing compared to how carefully indifferent and perhaps downright cold he’s otherwise acted.

“Just show me how to start the dishwasher,” Dave says.

“What?”

Dave gestures toward the dishwasher. “Tell me how to get it started.” He raises both eyebrows meaningfully, making his point crystal clear. “You need to talk with him.”

“Dave—” Diego cuts himself off. Anything he says will just be making excuses, and he knows it, and he knows Dave knows it. “Look, man, I don’t even know what to say to him.”

“You only need to let him know that you love him and that the past is the past, and I know—” He holds up a hand to stop Diego’s protest before it can even form in his throat. “Easier said than done. I know. But you gotta try, Diego. You have to be the one who bridges the gap because you and I both know that Klaus sure as hell won’t. Trust me, I was talking to him while you fetched the car, and he honestly thinks he’s one wrong word from getting kicked back to the streets by you.”

The words weigh heavy in Diego’s heart. He can’t even begin to understand the way Klaus thinks, but he can feel through the way Dave’s eyes flick once up to the ceiling like he’s fighting the urge to shed a tear there is a deep hurt in his brother, some well-imprinted fear of abandonment brought about by his family’s failure to bring him home. No matter that he was the one to leave home in the first place—no one cared enough to drag him back. And yeah, that has to hurt. If Diego were to disappear today, he knows Eudora would overturn the world to bring him home safe. Whatever faith in that kind of unconditional love Klaus may have once had, it surely shattered the moment he became aware of the fact that his family would not show him anything of the sort.

“Alright,” Diego decides. “Come here, and I’ll show you how to start the dishwasher.”

~

The moment Dave knows what to do in the kitchen, Diego is shooed off to talk to Klaus. It’s a far more daunting prospect than it has any right to be, and when did Diego start feeling afraid of Klaus? Or, not of him, exactly—more of what he might say or do, how he might react to this conversation, which will more likely than not be serious and difficult to stomach for them both.

Part of Diego prays that Eudora will still be setting up the guest room and thus providing Diego with a few minutes more to stall before he has to confront Klaus. No such luck. He passes her where she’s now working on the pullout couch for Dave, and when he moves to stop and help her, she too waves him off in the direction of Klaus.

The walk down the hall feels like a marathon, each step becoming more difficult than the last as Diego draws closer to the guest room and the person within. He nearly bows out several times, and raising his hand to the doorknob is an honest to god Herculean effort. With a steeling breath, Diego swallows his nerves as best he can, then pushes open the door.

Klaus is sitting on the sill of the open window, chin resting on one knee, a cigarette wedged tight between his lips. An open baggie with two pills still in it rests on the carpeted floor beneath his swinging leg, occasionally rustling when his shoelace brushes the top. The moonlight makes him look ghost-like—altogether too pale and too shadowed, too old to be as young as he is. His eyes flick over to Diego for a brief second before he returns to staring up at the night sky.

“Hey, Klaus,” Diego greets thinly, hoping he sounds more casual than he feels. He’s not entirely pleased about Klaus smoking and popping pills in his house, but for both their sakes, he’s letting it go. He can’t expect Klaus to quit cold turkey, and a couple of Xanax and a few cigarettes are probably about as tame as him can hope for. Now isn’t the time to be harping on Klaus, not if they’re going to reconcile for real. “Did you get enough to eat?”

Klaus is still for just a moment too long, and Diego takes a step inside. Klaus looks at him briefly again, then nods. “You and Eudora are really good cooks,” he says.

“Thanks.” Feeling a little awkward, Diego sits on the foot of the guest bed, as close to Klaus as he thinks is polite. The last thing he wants is to crowd Klaus and accidentally make him feel cornered. Klaus isn’t in the same good mood as he was when they’d been eating. He’s noticeably more subdued, and that may just be the pills, but Diego has a feeling that it’s more than that.

“I heard you and Dave talking,” Klaus admits, turning back toward the window. “Before I came to help Eudora set up in here.” Diego takes note with surprise that he’d actually helped. It’s oddly considerate of him. It’s only a footnote, though, in comparison to the rest of Klaus’ revelation. Diego tries to play it cool, hopes that it’s not as bad as he thinks it is.

“How much—how much did you hear?” he asks.

“Oh, I listened in right up until about, ‘waste of time and energy.’ Then I left.” And there it is, that bitterness, that simmering anger under Klaus’ skin, coming forward just like it had in their spat when he had first woken up in the hospital the other night. So much for playing it cool. Even though Diego had been expecting something of the sort, he still feels somewhat caught off guard by the harshness of Klaus’ voice, so at odds with the almost lazy sag of his body against the wall.

“I never thought that of you,” he offers truthfully, but it sounds empty, even to himself. “But, uh, that’s actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Klaus hums. “I get it,” he says, voice flat. He still won’t look at Diego.

Diego blinks. “You do?”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll be out of your hair in the morning. No need to worry about me taking up your space and time.”

A snarky remark about Klaus’ attitude wells up in Diego’s throat, and he shoves it down as far as he can. Bitterness wants so badly to be the first thing out of his mouth, but he can’t allow himself to have that momentarily satisfying act of spite that will just come back tenfold to bite him in the ass later on. Can’t be getting dragged down by every one of Klaus’ sour moods and temper tantrums, or they’ll just keep going in circles until they piss each other off bad enough that they refuse to talk for another half decade.

So instead he sighs and says as patiently as he can, “I just said, I don’t think that of you. I want you here, and I want you to stay for longer than just a night. When I said I wanted us to be brothers again, I meant it, okay? And…” And this is the hardest part, the part where now he’s the one who can’t look at Klaus. The apology. “I’m sorry I let you down.”

Aggravatingly, Klaus only shrugs, the heartfelt moment waved away by his nonchalance. “What for? I’m the family fuck-up. I’ve already made my peace with that.”

“You’re not the family fuck-up,” Diego snaps. They both wince at the sharpness in his voice. “Sorry, I just… you’re not a fuck-up. Look, I’m only trying to say that I should’ve been there for you all these years, even before you left. I should’ve cared a little more, or—or been a little less self-absorbed, or something. I dunno. My point is, I’m sorry I never did anything to make your life a little easier. And I’m sorry I didn’t tear the city apart to bring you home safe.”

Silence settles over the room, suffocating. He hadn’t meant for _all_ of that to come spilling out in such a rush. But it’s out there now, and being met with nothing from Klaus. Diego clenches and unclenches his jaw. Had he said something wrong?

He resists the urge to turn tail and run and refuse to face Klaus until morning. If he hasn’t already dug himself into a ten foot hole, that would definitely do the trick. Klaus would surely take it as a sign of insincerity because, like Eudora said, Diego has an honest face. Running off could easily mean that he’s afraid of being caught between a lie and his horrible poker face. No, if he’s going to be putting in the effort to reach out to Klaus, he has to leave no room for doubt. Besides, he can’t give up every time he hits a wall. Klaus has too many walls up for that.

When Klaus finally speaks, Diego nearly doesn’t hear him.

“I didn’t want you to find me.”

A beat.

“What was that?”

Finally, finally, Klaus turns his head and meets Diego’s eyes properly. “I wouldn’t have wanted to go back,” he repeats. “Not back there. Not ever. So don’t apologize for that.”

Diego hears Eudora laugh from the living room. Assumes she and Dave must be hitting it off pretty well. He forces his attention back to Klaus.

“I’ve had my own place since I was eighteen,” he says. “Had this house for over a year now. I could’ve easily found a way to bring you here and at least give you somewhere safe to sleep. It’s not like I couldn’t have found you, y’know? I mean, I’ve had all the resources of the police department at my disposal this whole time, I—”

“What the fuck!?” Klaus is up in a flash, fire burning hot in his eyes. And this is not the reaction Diego expected. Not by a long shot. Klaus’ body trembles as his voice rises. “What the hell is wrong with you? I’m a fucking junkie, Diego! I walk around talking to ghosts like I’m some crazy person, I—I _do_ things that aren’t—” He shakes his head hard and advances on Diego, towering over him and jabbing a finger into his chest, and hisses, “If you’d sent your cop buddies after me, I think they’d have kill me.”

“Klaus, no—”

“They would’ve killed me!” he shrieks. “He—they—he was going to—” He raises a hand as if to strike Diego, and that’s when Diego moves.

He grabs Klaus’ wrist midair to stop him, and then, in one swift motion, stands and pulls Klaus into a tight, one-armed hug full of all the love and remorse he can possibly muster, and that’s it. Klaus’ arm goes slack in Diego’s hand, and all the fight rushes out of his thin body. He wraps his arms around Diego and buries his face in his shoulder, his entire body shaking as he sobs.

“Klaus,” Diego murmurs, letting go of his wrist to hold him tightly against his chest with both arms. He rocks them back and forth where they stand. “I’m so sorry.”

“I never want to go back there again,” Klaus cries. “I don’t want to die.”

Diego soothes a hand up and down his back, blinking back tears of his own. “You don’t h-have to go back. You don’t have to go back. You’re here now, you’re with me, you’re safe. And he can’t touch you anymore. I’m never letting him hurt you ever again, hear me? Never.”

He doesn’t know if Klaus believes him, doesn’t know anything except that he has to protect Klaus and somehow mend all the old wounds that never healed quite right and are suddenly being torn back open.

It only takes a few minutes before Klaus, having cried himself out, begins to sag with exhaustion. Ever so subtly, Diego tightens his grip on him, determined that this time, he’s not letting go. He’s lost a lot of people, and he’s almost lost Klaus too many times.

If there’s any such thing as justice in this world, he thinks he and Klaus probably deserve an uphill after so many years of endless winding roads. And even if they don’t deserve it, or if there’s no higher power to measure what they deserve, it doesn’t matter. One way or another, they’re both getting through this. They’ve survived until now, haven’t they? They only have to keep on surviving.

Diego tells himself it’s that easy, repeats it in his brain like a prayer as he drops down to the bed, and he holds Klaus and rocks him to sleep, like if he can make himself believe it, it might come true. He hopes so. For Klaus’ sake, he really hopes so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eating stir-fry with forks is just about the most cursed thing I’ve ever written, buuuut I get the feeling that these poor dumbasses have never picked up a pair of chopsticks in their lives.
> 
> Thank you so much to all y'all who are still reading, by the way! Just wanted to send all my love to anyone who has read even a word of this. You all seriously make my day just by giving my writing the gift of your time. So lots of love to everyone! Also, If anyone's interested in Ben's side of the strange table conversation, I may add a link down here to a doc with the magic words. Comments and kudos are always loved and cherished, and I'm still kickin' around on tumblr [@lastoftherealblues](http://lastoftherealblues.tumblr.com/)!


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